The MOH Director of Medical Services, Kenneth Mak, said in a press conference yesterday (4 May) that the growing Covid-19 cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is the result of the new and more transmissible variants of the virus.
He revealed that more cases of the Covid-19 variants around the world have been detected locally; including the B.1351 variant from South Africa, the P.1 Variant from Brazil and the new B16172 variant from India, which is speculated to have been the reason for India’s devastating 2nd wave of cases.
Singapore saw 7 cases of the India variant in the local clusters, with 5 of them in the TTSH cluster; out of which one of them is a nurse, and the other is a doctor, with both having attended to patients.
The TTSH cluster is currently Singapore’s largest and most active to date, with more than 40 staff, patients and relatives affected.
Mak also highlighted that the situation could’ve been worse if people didn’t get vaccinated, revealing that of the 9 people out of the 40 cases at the TTSH cluster were fully vaccinated and they had little to no symptoms.
He also revealed that those who weren’t vaccinated required oxygen therapy.
Co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Task Force Lawrence Wong explained that the new variant strains have “higher attack rates”, and that they are “more infectious”, thus causing the larger clusters than before.
He added that “we must assume that there are still hidden cases out there in the community”.
Image sources: Google Maps and redcross.sg