I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that the number of new unlinked and community cases is dropping steadily.
In the past week, the number of new community cases has gone down to 28 from 86 in the week before.
Similarly, the number of new unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 14 cases in the week before to 4 in the past week.
Reader: So, what’s the bad news?
Well, one new COVID-19 cluster formed. Didn’t you read the headline?
1 New COVID-19 Cluster Formed from 5 July Report
6 new community infections were reported yesterday, of whom 4 are linked to previous cases and had already been placed on quarantine.
The other two are unlinked.
Two are linked to the Changi General Hospital cluster and another has been linked to the 105 Henderson Crescent cluster.
There was also one case who was linked to a new COVID-19 cluster, identified as the Case 64388 cluster.
The cluster was named after a 36-year-old Malaysian who works as a driver at Omni Aquatic Supplies. He developed a fever on 20 Jun and subsequently a cough and runny nose on 21 Jun. He tested positive on 22 Jun.
The new cluster now has three infections.
It wasn’t all bad news from the Ministry of Health (MOH) though.
[email protected] Cluster Closed as Well; 24 Active Clusters Left
After no new cases were linked to it for the past 28 days, the cluster at [email protected] has finally been closed.
The first case in the cluster was reported on 31 May, after which a total of 33 cases were linked to it.
At the moment, there are 24 active clusters in the country, ranging between 3 and 93 infections.
Besides the community cases, 7 imported infections were reported as well, all of whom were placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival.
5 were detected upon arrival in Singapore, while two developed the illness during stay-home notice or isolation.
102 Cases in Hospital; 3 in Intensive Care
Currently, there are 102 COVID-19 cases in hospital, most of whom are well and under observation.
There are 10 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and 3 in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).
Over the past 28 days, there were 23 local cases that required oxygen supplementation, were admitted to ICU, or died.
Of these, none was fully vaccinated. Three were partially vaccinated and 20 were unvaccinated.
Vaccination Progress
As of 4 July 2021, the authorities have administered around 5.78 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme, covering 3.61 million individuals.
2.17 million individuals have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen
Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli said on Facebook that the outbreak at [email protected] showed the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.
“The low symptomatic rate was quite likely because of the high vaccination rate of the staff and residents in the adult disability home – all except four of the 33 cases were vaccinated, and none of the symptomatic cases presented severe symptoms requiring intensive care,” he said.
Larger Group Sizes For Dining Out From 12 July
Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) was a tough month for us; without dining out, some of us wondered whether it was even worth eating.
Fortunately, we can now dine out in pairs, and this group size is set to increase even further.
Larger groups of five people will likely be allowed to dine in together from next Monday (12 July), as we open up further from a recent community outbreak.
We just have to make sure that we avoid using the term “travel bubble” until then, and the number of cases will remain where it currently is.
Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com