Singapore — The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced new Covid-19 cases detected among fishmongers at three markets and food centres, while four more KTV lounges were reported to likely have ongoing transmission.
In its daily Covid-19 update on Sunday (Jul 18), MOH noted that it was closely monitoring the situation and taking action to quickly contain and manage the cases, including contact tracing, quarantine and aggressive testing.
Beginning Monday (Jul 19), the National Environment Agency (NEA) and town councils will progressively implement access control with interim fencing and mandatory SafeEntry check-in at markets where Covid-19 cases have been detected among stallholders and stall assistants to better enable contact tracing and ringfence transmission.
“All visitors to the affected premises are advised to monitor their health closely, and minimise social interactions as far as possible, for 14 days from their date of visit or interaction. They are encouraged to see a doctor immediately if they feel unwell,” said MOH.
“We also advise all visitors to markets and food centres to avoid crowds and to do your marketing during off-peak hours or at supermarkets, and to strictly observe the safe management measures.”
MOH reported 25 new cases linked to the KTV cluster, bringing the total of the largest active cluster to 173 cases.
According to MOH, there is likely an ongoing transmission at the following KTV lounges or clubs currently operating as F&B outlets: Maze Club (2 Aliwal Street); China Doll (1 Sophia Road); Club Myth (1 Coleman Street); and Martell W Ktv Chivas (6 Foch Road).
Meanwhile, 42 new cases were linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster, bringing its total to 63.
There are currently clusters detected at Hong Lim Market & Food Centre and Chong Boon Market & Food Centre.
Fishmongers working at Amoy Street Food Centre, 527 Ang Mo Kio Market, Chong Pang Market & Food Centre, Bukit Timah Wet Market, Geylang Bahru Market, Geylang Serai Malay Market, Redhill Market, Taman Jurong Market, Telok Blangah Crescent Block 11, 726 West Coast Wet Market and Whampoa Wet Market were included in the list on Jul 17.
On Jul 18, additional cases were confirmed at Haig Road Market and Cooked Food Centre, Jurong Central Plaza and Shunfu Mart.
MOH also reported one case of a resident in a foreign worker dormitory.
In total, there are 92 new cases of Covid-19 infection in Singapore on Jul 18.
There are currently 5 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and 1 in critical condition in the intensive care unit, said MOH.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 17 cases in the week before to 325 cases in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 8 cases in the week before to 31 cases in the past week.
We are likely to see rising cases in the coming days as we step up efforts to detect them to contain their spread in the community, said MOH. /TISG
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