Singapore reports 1,009 new local COVID-19 cases; large clusters at 2 more nursing homes

Singapore has just reported 1,009 new local COVID-19 infections as of noon on Sunday (Sep 19), comprising 919 community cases and 90 dormitory residents. This is the highest ever number of COVID-19 cases (excluding the worker dormitories). This is also the 2nd consecutive day that new local cases have crossed the 1,000 positive cases mark.

What is troubling is the number of seniors as well as the number of large clusters forming. Sunday's new local cases included 321 seniors above the age of 60

There were also four more large clusters. These clusters are Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market and Food Centre, Woodlands Care Home, Windsor Convalescent Home and My Little Campus (Yishun).

The cluster at Toa Payoh Lorong 8 Market and Food Centre has a total of 41 cases.

The cluster at Woodlands Care Home has 12 cases

The Windsor Convalescent Home cluster has a total of 10 cases.

The My Little Campus pre-school (Yishun) has a total of 11 cases.

These are among 16 large clusters that Ministry of Health (MOH) is monitoring.

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

Of these, 118 cases of serious illness required oxygen supplementation and 21 were in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU). Among those who fell very ill were 116 seniors above the age of 60.

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

Singapore is going to implement home-based learning for schools. Students from Primary 1 to Primary 5 will be on home based learning from Sep 27 until the end of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) on Oct 6, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Saturday.

Primary 6 students will go on a "study break" before their PSLE from Sep 25 to Sep 29, similar to the arrangements for the 2020 year-end national examinations.

"This is to minimise the risk of school-based transmissions and reduce the number of students placed on Quarantine Order or Leave of Absence prior to the examination," said MOE.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung also mentioned that accident and emergency (A&E) departments and general wards in Singapore's hospitals were coming "under pressure", although ICU capacity was "still holding up". There is no doubt that if our people had not come forward in big numbers to vaccinate ourselves, our healthcare system would have been overwhelmed by now," Mr Ong said in a Facebook post

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He also said that this is why the Government was encouraging younger, fully vaccinated people to recover from home, admitting patients to community care facilities, and also setting up more of these facilities in the coming week, he said.