9 more deaths, 3,348 new COVID cases in Singapore

SINGAPORE — Another nine individuals in Singapore have succumbed to the coronavirus, as the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 3,348 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday (16 October), bringing the country's total case count to 145,120.

This marks the 27th day in a row with COVID fatalities reported in Singapore, with a total of 123 individuals succumbing to the virus so far this month.

The 216th through 224th COVID-19 deaths in the city-state are all Singaporeans: four men and five women aged between 60 and 89 years.

Five had been unvaccinated, two were partially vaccinated and two were vaccinated. Eight had various underlying medical conditions, while an unvaccinated case had no known medical conditions.

Of the new cases, 2,688 are in the community, 656 in the migrant worker dormitories and four are imported cases.

The ministry is closely monitoring two clusters at a nursing home and a medicare centre. Two more cases were added to the cluster at ECON Medicare Centre & Nursing Home at 10 Buangkok View Block 5. The cluster now has 59 cases, with three staff members infected and the remainder residents.

Four new cases were added to United Medicare Centre's Toa Payoh branch, now linked to 123 infections. Of them, 105 are residents, 17 are staff members and one is a household contact.

310 serious cases, 62 in ICU

1,464 cases - or 6.8 per cent - are currently warded in hospital, mostly for observation. 310 cases of serious illness require oxygen supplementation and 62 are in the intensive care unit.

As of noon on Saturday, 16,580 cases - or 76.5 per cent - are undergoing home recovery, while 2,862 are in community care facilities and 766 - or 3.5 per cent - in COVID-19 treatment facilities.

Over the last 28 days, of the 68,147 infected individuals, 98.6 per cent had no or mild symptoms, 1.1 per cent required oxygen supplementation, 0.1 per cent required ICU care, and 0.2 per cent have died.

Apart from the 224 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

Amongst those who required oxygen supplementation or were sent to the ICU, 49.4 per cent were fully vaccinated and 50.6 per cent were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Amongst those who died in the last 28 days, 26.3 per cent were fully vaccinated and 73.7 per cent were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

As of Saturday, about 9.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. Some 4.62 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with some 4.56 million having completed the full vaccination regimen.

To date, about 780,000 eligible individuals have been invited to receive their booster doses – 554,004 of them have received their booster shots while another 100,000 have booked their appointments.

Separately, 224,870 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL) have been administered as of Saturday, covering 117,283 individuals.

This means that 84 per cent of Singapore's population has completed their full regimen of COVID-19 vaccines, and 85 per cent have received at least one dose.

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