‘Unusually high’ 5,324 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore; 10 more deaths bring tally to 349

• There were a record 5,324 new Covid-19 cases on Oct 27
• Ten deaths were registered for the day, bringing the tally to 349
• MOH said the unusually high infection numbers were due to cases detected by the testing laboratories within a few hours
• There are 357 ICU beds, of which 285 are now occupied, including 142 by Covid-19 patients
• Singapore has registered a total of 184,419 cases since the start of the pandemic in 2020

SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday (Oct 27) logged a record 5,324 new cases of Covid-19 and 10 more deaths due to complications from the disease.

This is the first time that the daily Covid-19 tally has breached the 5,000 mark.

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the “infection numbers are unusually high today, mostly due to many Covid-positive cases detected by the testing laboratories within a few hours in the afternoon”.

“MOH is looking into this unusual surge in cases within a relatively short window, and closely monitoring the trends for the next few days,” it said.

There were 76 patients who were unstable and under close monitoring in intensive care units (ICUs) to prevent further deterioration, down from the 79 reported the day before.

In addition, there were 66 patients who were critically ill and intubated in ICUs, one fewer than on Tuesday.

The number of patients who require oxygen support went up from 289 on Tuesday to 308 on Wednesday.

In total, there are 357 ICU beds, of which 285 are now occupied — 142 by Covid-19 patients.

This means that the ICU utilisation rate is now 79.8 per cent, up slightly from the 79.2 per cent the day before.

“MOH is in the process of standing up more ICU beds,” it reiterated.

Among the new infections recorded on Wednesday, 4,651 were in the community, 661 were made up of migrant worker dormitory residents and the remaining 12 were imported.

The ratio of community cases in the past week compared with the week before stood at 1.15, up from the 1.11 reported on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, there were 728 people above the age of 60 among the community cases, MOH said.

The 10 who died were all aged between 54 and 96.

“All except an unvaccinated case had various underlying medical conditions,” the ministry said without giving more details.

In total, 349 people here have died of Covid-19 complications, including 248 this month alone.

LOCAL SITUATION

Singapore has registered a total of 184,419 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

As of Wednesday, there were 1,777 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, 10 fewer than the day before.

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

• 20,895, or 74.3 per cent of them, were undergoing home recovery
• 4,589 (16.3 per cent) were in community care facilities
• 1,777 (6.3 per cent) were in hospital, mostly for observation
• 849 (3 per cent) were in Covid-19 treatment facilities

Separately, some 3,172 cases were discharged on Wednesday, of whom 484 were people above the age of 60.

MOH said that over the last 28 days, the percentage of local cases who had mild or no symptoms was 98.7 per cent. During the same period:

• 0.9 per cent of patients required oxygen aid
• 0.1 per cent were unstable and under close monitoring under intensive care
• 0.1 per cent were critically ill and intubated in ICU
• 0.2 per cent had died

CLUSTERS UNDER MONITORING

Among large clusters that are being closely monitored by the ministry, seven had new cases, MOH said on Wednesday. This was one more cluster compared to Tuesday.

A total of 19 new infections were added to these seven large clusters.

MOH said that in the past seven days, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who were critically ill in ICU was at 0.5 and 4.3 per 100,000 population respectively.

Over the same period, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who died was 0.1 and 0.8 per 100,000 population respectively.

And among those aged 60 and above, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who were critically ill under intensive care was 2.2 and 32.6 respectively.

“The number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated seniors who died are 0.3 and 7.7 respectively,” it added.

VACCINATIONS

As of Oct 26, 84 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated, and 85 per cent have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

MOH added that 14 per cent of the population have received their booster shots.

A total of​​ 10,029,148 doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme (Pfizer-BioNTech or Comirnaty, Moderna and Sinovac) have been administered.

So far, 4,733,014 people have received at least one dose of vaccine under the national vaccination programme, and 4,673,461 individuals have completed the full vaccination regimen.

A further 745,102 people have taken their booster shots, MOH said.

In addition, 43,773 doses of other vaccines that are recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 24,471 individuals.