Singapore should continue to expect many coronavirus infections to be reported in the coming days and must be prepared to make adjustments or even take decisive actions to suppress the cases, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a Facebook post on July 19.
His comments come as the country reported 163 new cases of infections in the community on July 19, a significant jump from last week when a cluster linked to karaoke lounges first emerged and another tied to a wholesale fishery port came to light over the weekend. Of the new local cases, 106 are linked to the fishery port and 19 to the karaoke lounge clusters, while 26 cases are currently unlinked, according to the health ministry.
The outbreaks in karaoke lounges and at the fishery port are linked, Ong said in his post. They differ genetically from the Delta variant earlier identified in previous outbreaks, with the current clusters closer to what has been detected in imported cases from Indonesia, he added.
