Pre-school, 2 nurseries among COVID-19 clusters in Singapore

Team Udayavani, Sep 20, 2021, 9:23 AM IST

Singapore: Two nurseries and a pre-school are among the latest COVID-19 clusters in Singapore which has reported 1,012 new cases, 90 of which were residents of dormitories for foreign workers.

Health authorities are keeping a close eye on the number of COVID-19 cases in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to ensure Singapore’s health system is not overwhelmed, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said on Sunday.

There are currently 14 people in the ICU, but this number “can change very quickly”, Wong said in a Facebook post.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) listed four more large clusters on Sunday – Woodlands Care Home, Windsor Convalescent Home and My Little Campus in Yishun public housing estate as well as Toa Payoh Lorong (street) 8 Market and Food Centre, one of the largest public housing estates here.

The cluster at Woodlands Care Home has 12 cases, including 11 residents and one staff member.

The Windsor Convalescent Home cluster has a total of 10 cases, comprising nine residents and one staff member.

At pre-school My Little Campus (Yishun), there are a total of 11 cases in the cluster – nine students and two staff members, according to a Channel News Asia report.

The cluster at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market and Food Centre has a total of 41 cases, comprising 24 staff members and 17 household contacts. All workers at the market and food centre will be tested for COVID-19, the MOH said.

These are among 16 large clusters the MOH is monitoring. The other clusters include Jamiyah Nursing Home, DHL Supply Chain Advanced Regional Centre, Avery Lodge Dormitory, Blue Stars Domitory, Pfizer Asia Pacific Pte Ltd as well as two public bus interchanges, the Channel reported.

There were 873 patients warded in hospital, most of whom were well and under observation, said the MOH.

Of these, 118 cases of serious illness required oxygen supplementation and 21 were in critical condition in the ICU.

Among those who fell very ill were 116 seniors above the age of 60.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of local cases who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms was 98.1 per cent.

As of Sunday, Singapore has reported a total of 77,804 COVID-19 cases and 60 deaths from the disease.

Sunday”s new local cases included 321 seniors above the age of 60, said the MOH.

There were three imported cases, those arriving here from abroad on Sunday with the rest 919 community cases and 90 dormitory residents infected locally.