Over 60,000 Singaporeans receive first dose of COVID-19 vaccine

Source: Xinhua| 2021-01-23 01:02:00|Editor: huaxia

SINGAPORE, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Over 60,000 individuals in Singapore have received their first dose of vaccine of COVID-19, Singapore's Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong said here Friday.

"These numbers are expected to rise substantially in the coming weeks, as we continue to ramp up our vaccination capacity and operations, while maintaining the highest standards of safety," he said at a press conference.

So far, Singapore has set up four vaccinations centers, and more are in the pipeline. Moreover, the city-state is also preparing to turn polyclinics and selected Public Health Preparedness Clinics into vaccination centers.

According to Gan, Singapore will begin its first phase of community vaccination next week for the seniors.

He also noted that there was an increase in the number of locally transmitted cases.

"In the past week alone, there were an average of three cases in the community a day," he said, adding that four clusters have been discovered recently involving mainly workplace and household transmissions.

Amongst the community cases in the past two weeks, about three-quarters of them were symptomatic, but half of them had not sought medical treatment after they experienced symptoms.

The minister urged Singaporeans to adhere strictly to the safe management measures and be socially responsible, especially over the upcoming festive Chinese New Year period.

On Friday, Singapore reported one community case and 14 imported cases, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 59,250. Enditem

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