Staff at Bishan and Sengkang bus interchanges linked to 2 of 3 new Covid-19 clusters

A total of nine cases are linked to the Bishan interchange (left), while 13 are linked to the Sengkang interchange. PHOTOS: SCREENGRABS FROM GOOGLE MAPS

SINGAPORE - Two of the three new Covid-19 clusters announced yesterday involve 22 people, including 16 staff, at the Bishan and Sengkang bus interchanges, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

There were five new cases linked to the Bishan bus interchange, taking its total to nine.

Four new cases were linked to the Sengkang bus interchange, taking its total to 13.

SBS Transit said in a statement on Saturday night that about 97 per cent of its bus captains have been vaccinated as at Aug 12.

The 16 cases among bus captains and staff were detected via regular surveillance testing and none of them have severe symptoms, it added.

Intensive cleaning and disinfection have begun at both interchanges. More frequent antigen rapid tests will also be conducted for all bus captains at the two interchanges during this period, SBS Transit added.

The third new cluster was linked to an individual case, and it now has a total of three cases.

Meanwhile, My First Skool at 54 Chin Swee Road had five additional cases on Saturday, bringing its total to 17 cases.

The cluster at Safra Tampines has grown by three cases to 15 cases.

Another eight clusters have closed, and there are currently 111 active clusters ranging between three and 1,155 infections.

Singapore recorded 57 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases on Saturday, 17 of which are currently unlinked.

There was also one imported case that was detected and isolated upon arrival here, bringing Singapore's total to 66,119.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 611 cases in the week before to 377 cases in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 166 cases in the week before to 101 cases in the past week.

Currently, 451 patients are warded in hospital.

There are 26 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and nine in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Six among these 35 cases are fully vaccinated.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 31 are seniors above 60 years, of whom 25 are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

In total, 75 per cent of Singapore residents have received two doses of the vaccines, and 81 per cent have received at least one dose.

So far, 44 people have died from Covid-19 in Singapore.

Read the full MOH press release here.

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