Coronavirus: Singapore’s jump in cases tests reopening plans; South Korea’s deaths spike

Singapore is seeing more than 100 new cases a day as it prepares to transition to reopening with the assumption the virus will be endemic

Elsewhere, Australia has recorded 1,000 daily cases for the first time

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Some 80 per cent of Singapore’s total population has been fully immunised. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:55am, 26 Aug 2021Updated: 9:01pm, 26 Aug 2021

In Singapore, a jump in Covid-19 cases to more than 100 a day poses a potential test of resolve for officials who are counting on one of the world’s best vaccination rates to allow them to stay the course and keep reopening.

A cluster at Bugis Junction, a local shopping centre, added 40 new cases on Thursday, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health. A total of 38 new cases were reported a day earlier, with most of them being linked to multi-storey department store BHG, which was closed through August 30 for deep cleaning. The government is encouraging anyone who went to the mall since August 17 to get a free Covid-19 test.

Once seen as a vanguard of the “Covid-zero” elimination strategy, Singapore says it is preparing to transition to reopening with the assumption the virus will be endemic, while keeping social distancing safeguards and encouraging mass vaccination to limit community spread.

The city state is nearing 80 per cent of its total population who have completed the full regimen of vaccines, a benchmark leaders have set for additional easing.

Previous rapid-growth clusters have set back Singapore’s ambitions before, like in July when clusters centred around karaoke lounges and the Jurong Fishery Port sprang up.

Along with the Bugis Junction cluster, which now stands at 61 cases, another at a migrant worker dormitory has infected more than 110 people.

The difference now is vaccinations.

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