MOH urges people to limit social activities as ICU patients continue to rise; 3,994 new Covid-19 cases

• There were a record 3,994 new Covid-19 cases reported on Oct 19
• MOH said that there has been a rise in activity levels in the country
• The number of unvaccinated seniors infected with Covid-19 has risen recently to over 100 a day
• The number of people requiring intensive care continues to rise, putting hospitals under significant strain
• There were seven deaths reported on Oct 14, bringing the tally thus far to 246

SINGAPORE — Singapore on Tuesday (Oct 19) logged a record 3,994 new cases of Covid-19 and seven more deaths due to complications from the disease.

In its daily update on the coronavirus situation, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that there is a “usual post-weekend surge in cases” reported for the day.

“We will have to closely monitor cases for the next few days, to determine if this is a temporary spike or a further surge in infections,” said MOH.

It added that over the past week, there has been a rise in activity levels, “including a higher number of visitors across all malls, larger crowds in the Orchard Road area, as well as a slight increase in public transport ridership”.

The ministry noted that the number of unvaccinated seniors aged above 60 who have been infected with Covid-19 has risen over the past few days “to well over 100 a day”.

“They are at risk of falling very sick. The number of persons requiring intensive care units (ICU) care continues to rise, and this has put our hospitals under significant pressure and strain,” said MOH.

“We strongly encourage everyone, especially the elderly and persons with comorbidities who are more vulnerable to severe illnesses, to limit your social activities and go out only for essential activities.”

The number of patients under intensive care is 71.

This number has steadily increased from 17 cases on Sept 21 to 27 cases on Sept 27, 46 on Oct 13 and 67 on Monday.

Of the new cases reported on Tuesday, 3,480 were in the community, 501 were made up of migrant worker dormitory residents and the remaining 13 were imported infections.

Among the local cases were 567 seniors above the age of 60, MOH said.

The seven who died comprised five men and two women.

Aged between 57 and 90, they were all Singaporeans.

Among them, three had not been vaccinated against Covid-19, one was partially vaccinated and the remaining three were fully vaccinated.

“Six of them had various underlying medical conditions, while an unvaccinated case had no known medical conditions,” said MOH, without indicating when they were infected with Covid-19 or had died.

In total, 246 people here have died from complications due to the coronavirus, including 145 this month alone.

LOCAL SITUATION

Singapore has logged a total of 154,725 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

As of Tuesday, there are 1,738 patients who are in hospital, 24 more than the day before.

Of these, 338 patients require oxygen support to help them breathe, up from the 337 on Monday.

Among all Covid-19 community cases who have been onboarded or admitted:

• 16,377, or 71.9 per cent of them, are undergoing home recovery

• 3,812 (16.7 per cent) are in community care facilities

• 1,738 (7.6 per cent) are in hospital, mostly for observation

• 851 (3.7 per cent) are in Covid-19 treatment facilities

MOH said that over the last 28 days, the percentage of local cases who had mild or no symptoms is 98.6 per cent.

• During the same period, 1.0 per cent of cases required oxygen aid and 0.1 per cent had been warded in ICUs

• Of these, 48.6 per cent were fully vaccinated and 51.4 per cent were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated

• Among those who have passed away in the past 28 days, 27.1 per cent were fully vaccinated and 72.9 per cent were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated

CLUSTERS UNDER MONITORING

Among large clusters that are being closely monitored by the ministry, five had new cases, MOH said on Tuesday. This was one fewer cluster with new cases compared to Monday.

A total of 12 new infections were added to these five large clusters.

VACCINATIONS

As of Oct 18, 84 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated, and 85 per cent has received at least one dose.

A total of​​ 9,662,027 doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme (Pfizer-BioNTech or Comirnaty and Moderna) have been administered.

So far, 4,622,432 people have received at least one dose of vaccine under the national vaccination programme, and 4,562,307 individuals have completed the full vaccination regimen.

MOH added that to date, it has invited about 850,000 eligible people to receive their vaccine booster.

It said that 604,552 individuals have received their booster shots and another 96,000 have booked their appointments.

In addition, 227,800 doses of other vaccines such as Sinovac that are recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 118,598 individuals.