Number of Covid-19 patients who need oxygen aid climbs; 10 new clusters detected

• Thirty Covid-19 patients are in serious condition and need oxygen support, up from 23 a day ago
• This is the highest number in at least the past 28 days
• Ten new clusters were reported, including one linked to Seng Leong Steel (Ent) 
• There were 133 new infections reported on July 29, of which four were imported
   

SINGAPORE — The number of Covid-19 patients who need oxygen to help them breathe has gone up and 10 new clusters of infections were reported on Thursday (July 29).

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that 30 patients are in serious condition and need oxygen supplementation, up from 23 a day ago.

The number of such patients are now at the highest in at least the past 28 days and figures have been climbing steadily since July 20, when there were five patients who needed oxygen aid.

Three patients are now in critical condition under intensive care, up from two a day ago.

Among the 33 in critical condition or requiring oxygen support, only one has been fully vaccinated, MOH said. It added that this sole vaccinated patient has underlying medical conditions.

“Twenty-four seniors above 60 years old, of whom 23 are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, have fallen very ill,” MOH added.

It stressed that there is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected.

“Over the last 28 days, 39 local cases required oxygen supplementation, were admitted to intensive care units or died,” it said, adding that 23 were not vaccinated, 15 were partially vaccinated and one was fully vaccinated.

As of Thursday, there are 572 Covid-19 patients who are hospitalised.

10 NEW CLUSTERS

Earlier on Thursday, MOH said that there were 129 new locally transmitted Covid-19 cases, 30 of which were traced to the cluster at Jurong Fishery Port.

The cluster, the largest active one here, now has 969 cases.

Another two cases were linked to the cluster involving karaoke television (KTV) lounges and clubs, bringing the tally to 248.

MOH’s later update showed that 17 locally transmitted cases have been traced to 10 newly identified clusters, which included one linked to stainless steel product manufacturer Seng Leong Steel (Ent) located at Bukit Batok Industrial Park A.

The ministry provided no more details about the nine other new clusters.

In total, there are now 53 active Covid-19 clusters, each having three to 969 cases.

Of the 129 locally transmitted cases, 50 have no known sources of infection, MOH said.

For those linked to previous infections, 68 had already been placed under quarantine and another 11 were detected through surveillance testing.

Among the cases are four seniors aged above 70 who are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated and at risk of serious illness, MOH said.

The locally transmitted cases were among a total of 133 new Covid-19 cases confirmed on Thursday. 

The remaining four were imported and had been isolated on arrival in Singapore. Three of them were detected upon arrival and one developed the disease during stay-home notice or in isolation. 

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has dropped slightly from 884 in the week before to 881 in the past week.

The number of cases with no known infection source in the community has surged from 64 in the week before to 238 in the past week.

“The seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 91.9 and 34.0 respectively,” MOH said.

“We are likely to continue to see a high number of cases in the coming days as we step up efforts to detect them to contain their spread in the community,” it added.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore is now 64,722.

SELF-TEST KIT COLLECTION

MOH also said that it is investigating cases of infection involving markets and food centres, which are likely seeded by fishmongers who visited Jurong Fishery Port.

With the People’s Association, it will distribute antigen rapid self-test kits to people who had visited selected markets and food centres in the past 14 days.

The collection will run from Friday to Saturday at residents’ committee centres near Mayflower Market and Food Centre at Ang Mo Kio and Redhill market.

Those who have visited these markets and food centres may refer to https://www.gowhere.gov.sg/art to find out where to collect these test kits.

VACCINATIONS

More than 7.36 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been given to about 4.28 million people as of Wednesday, MOH said.

Some 3.21 million people have completed the full vaccination regimen, consisting of 121,443 recovered persons who received at least one dose and about 3.09 million who received their second dose.

In addition, 95,029 doses of Sinovac vaccines were administered as of Wednesday, covering 71,810 individuals.