SINGAPORE: Singapore has seen a 23 per cent week-on-week increase in COVID-19 community infections, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Tuesday (Jun 21).
"The rise is largely driven by increased spread of newer Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5,” it added.
Although the BA.2 subvariant still accounts for the bulk of Singapore’s COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said the proportion of BA.4 and BA.5 infections is rising.
About 30 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the community in the past week were cases with BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, as compared to 17 per cent and 3 per cent for the previous two weeks respectively.
MOH added that BA.5 alone is estimated to contribute to 25 per cent of all cases this week.
“The surge in BA.4 and BA.5 cases is likely to continue, driven by their higher transmissibility compared to BA.2,” said MOH.
The Health Ministry said current international and local evidence shows that the severity of BA.4 and BA.5 infections is similar to that of earlier Omicron strains.
“The current safe management measures, including the requirement to wear masks while indoors and vaccination-differentiated (safe management measures) for some higher-risk activities, will remain.”
MOH said it will continue genomic surveillance for circulating subvariants in Singapore, including requiring some infected individuals to take an additional government-funded polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab for genomic sequencing.
“Vaccinations are critical to protect us against severe illness when infected with COVID-19, especially given the uptick in cases. In this regard, we strongly recommend that seniors aged 70 years and above (and especially those aged 80 years and above) take their second booster shot,” added the ministry.
All other eligible individuals should complete their primary vaccination series and get at least their first booster as soon as possible. MOH said it will soon be deploying mobile vaccination teams to help seniors get boosted.
The Health Ministry also said five new Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres (JTVCs) will begin vaccination and COVID-19 testing operations from Jun 23.
Located in Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Merah, Sengkang, Woodlands and Yishun, the five new JTVCs will bring the total number of such centres across the island to 10.
These centres will offer the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax vaccines. The centre in Bishan will offer the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccines.
Those aged 12 years and above may walk in to any of the centres to receive their vaccination and booster.
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"The rise is largely driven by increased spread of newer Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5,” it added.
Although the BA.2 subvariant still accounts for the bulk of Singapore’s COVID-19 infections, the Health Ministry said the proportion of BA.4 and BA.5 infections is rising.
About 30 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the community in the past week were cases with BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, as compared to 17 per cent and 3 per cent for the previous two weeks respectively.
MOH added that BA.5 alone is estimated to contribute to 25 per cent of all cases this week.
“The surge in BA.4 and BA.5 cases is likely to continue, driven by their higher transmissibility compared to BA.2,” said MOH.
The Health Ministry said current international and local evidence shows that the severity of BA.4 and BA.5 infections is similar to that of earlier Omicron strains.
“The current safe management measures, including the requirement to wear masks while indoors and vaccination-differentiated (safe management measures) for some higher-risk activities, will remain.”
MOH said it will continue genomic surveillance for circulating subvariants in Singapore, including requiring some infected individuals to take an additional government-funded polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab for genomic sequencing.
“Vaccinations are critical to protect us against severe illness when infected with COVID-19, especially given the uptick in cases. In this regard, we strongly recommend that seniors aged 70 years and above (and especially those aged 80 years and above) take their second booster shot,” added the ministry.
All other eligible individuals should complete their primary vaccination series and get at least their first booster as soon as possible. MOH said it will soon be deploying mobile vaccination teams to help seniors get boosted.
The Health Ministry also said five new Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres (JTVCs) will begin vaccination and COVID-19 testing operations from Jun 23.
Located in Ang Mo Kio, Bukit Merah, Sengkang, Woodlands and Yishun, the five new JTVCs will bring the total number of such centres across the island to 10.
These centres will offer the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax vaccines. The centre in Bishan will offer the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccines.
Those aged 12 years and above may walk in to any of the centres to receive their vaccination and booster.
Continue reading...