Thanks so much for the fix and the commendable response time @zogstrip and @sam!
let us know how urgently you need to fix
It isn’t urgent.
I decided to see if I could make use the “Automation” plugin to facilitate the maintenance and moderation work on our forum, but it is only a potential enhancement rather than something essential. This bug did end up being a blocker for being able to present the project to the moderation team, so I am looking forward to the time when our forum is updated to the version Discourse with the fix. However, I am already using the system personally (since I am an admin and thus can see the flags).
The delay might actually be a good thing as perhaps I can manage to improve the reliability before its worthiness is judged by the moderators.