5 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, all imported infections

SINGAPORE: All of Singapore's five new COVID-19 infections as of noon on Wednesday (Nov 18) were imported cases. 

No locally transmitted cases were reported for the eighth consecutive day. 

Three of the imported cases are work permit holders, aged 23, 30 and 33, who arrived from Myanmar.

Another case involved a 15-year-old student’s pass holder who arrived from India. 

The remaining case is a short-term visit pass holder from Bangladesh, aged 70, who was allowed entry as he was already receiving medical care in Singapore and had returned for further treatment, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). 

All the cases were asymptomatic, said MOH, adding that they were placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.

The new infections bring the country's tally of COVID-19 cases to 58,135.

Seven more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, bringing Singapore's total recoveries to 58,046.

There are 33 cases still in hospital. Most of them are stable or improving, and no one is in the intensive care unit. Another 28 are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.

To date, 28 have died from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

MOH also announced that as there have been no more cases linked to the cluster at ASPRI-Westlite Papan at 5 Jalan Papan for the past two incubation periods, the cluster is now closed. 

It added that it has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission. 

Further details can be found in the health ministry's daily situation report. 

VACCINES UPDATES

Pfizer is "very close" to applying for an emergency use approval for its COVID-19 vaccine after collecting safety data to submit to US regulators, the company's CEO reportedly said on Tuesday.

The pharmaceutical giant announced last week that a late-stage clinical trial showed the vaccine was more than 90 per cent effective after the second dose.

READ: Vaccine will not be enough to stop COVID-19 pandemic - WHO chief

Explainer: Where are we in the COVID-19 vaccine race?

On Monday, Moderna and the US National Institutes for Health announced similar preliminary results from their own trial, finding their vaccine was almost 95 per cent effective.

Sinovac Biotech's vaccine CoronaVac triggered a quick immune response but the level of antibodies produced was lower than in people who had recovered from the disease, preliminary trial results showed on Wednesday.

While the early to mid-stage trials were not designed to assess the efficacy of CoronaVac, researchers said it could provide sufficient protection, based on their experience with other vaccines and data from preclinical studies with macaques.

READ: Shot in the dark: Early COVID-19 vaccine efficacy explained

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hailed "encouraging" news about COVID-19 vaccines. However, he expressed concern about surging cases in many countries and insisted that complacency was not an option.

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