Covid-19: 3,348 new infections, 9 more deaths in Singapore; ICU cases spike to 62

• There were 3,348 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore on Oct 16
• Nine more coronavirus deaths were reported, taking the toll to 224
• The number of patients in intensive care climbed to 62 — 14 more than on Oct 15

SINGAPORE — Singapore on Saturday (Oct 16) recorded 3,348 new cases of Covid-19, a dip from the day before, as well as nine deaths from coronavirus complications. 

The number of patients under intensive care shot up to 62, though the number of patients in hospital declined.

Of the new cases, 2,688 were in the community, 656 were residents in workers’ dormitories and the remaining four were imported.

Of the nine who died, four were Singaporean men and five were Singaporean women, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its nightly update on the Covid-19 situation.

They were aged between 60 and 89.

Among the nine, five were not vaccinated against Covid-19, two were partially immunised and the remaining two were vaccinated.

One of the unvaccinated patients who died had no known medical conditions. The other eight had various underlying conditions, MOH said, without elaborating on what these were.

It did not indicate when the patients were infected with Covid-19 or had died.

So far, 224 people here have died from complications due to the coronavirus, including 123 this month alone.

The total number of Covid-19 infections in Singapore stands at 145,120.

LOCAL SITUATION

Among the new locally transmitted cases on Saturday were 475 people aged above 60, said MOH.

There are 1,464 cases who are in hospital, 129 fewer than the day before.

Of these, 310 patients need oxygen support to breathe, 12 fewer than the day before.

The number of patients under intensive care, however, climbed to 62, 14 more than the day before.

Thirty-one patients in intensive care are older than 70, 19 are between 61 and 70, and 12 are between 40 and 60. 

Among all the Covid-19 cases who have been registered or admitted:

• 16,580, or 76.5 per cent of them, are undergoing home recovery

• 2,862, or 13.2 per cent, are in community care facilities

• 766, or 3.5 per cent, are in Covid-19 treatment facilities

• 1,464, or 6.8 per cent, are in hospital, mostly for observation

MOH said that in the last 28 days, the proportion of local cases with mild or no symptoms was 98.6 per cent. 

• Over the same period, 1.1 per cent of the cases needed oxygen aid and 0.1 per cent were under intensive care

• Of these, 49.4 per cent were fully vaccinated, and 50.6 per cent were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated 

• Among those who died in the past 28 days, 26.3 per cent were fully vaccinated, and 73.7 per cent were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated

CLUSTERS UNDER MONITORING

Among the large Covid-19 clusters that are being monitored closely by the ministry, two had new cases, MOH said on Saturday. 

Six new infections were added to these two clusters.

They are at Econ Medicare Centre and Nursing Home in Buangkok and the Toa Payoh branch of the United Medicare Centre nursing home.

VACCINATIONS

As of Friday, 84 per cent of Singapore’s population had been fully vaccinated, and 85 per cent had received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.

A total of ​​9,598,504 doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme (Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna) have been administered.

So far, 4,616,536 people have received at least one dose of a vaccine under the national vaccination programme, and 4,555,676 people have completed the full vaccination regimen.

MOH added that to date, it has invited about 780,000 eligible people to receive their vaccine booster shots.

It said that 554,004 individuals have received their boosters and another 100,000 have booked their appointments.

In addition, 224,870 doses of other vaccines such as Sinovac that are recognised on the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 117,283 individuals.