3,862 new Covid-19 cases in S’pore; record 18 deaths reported in a day brings tally to 264

• There were 3,862 new Covid-19 cases reported on Oct 20
• The 18 deaths logged for the day is the most reported in a single day so far, bringing the tally to 264 
• There were 67 patients in the intensive care units, a dip from the 71 reported the day before
• Singapore has logged a total of 158,587 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year

SINGAPORE — Singapore on Wednesday (Oct 20) logged 3,862 new cases of Covid-19 and 18 more deaths due to complications from the disease.

The 18 deaths is the most reported in a single day so far, surpassing the previous record of 15 fatalities reported on Oct 14.

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that there were 67 patients in the intensive care units (ICU), a dip from the 71 reported the day before.

The number of ICU patients has been rising steadily in recent days and the last time Singapore saw a dip in such patients was on Oct 9. The 40 patients reported that day was one less than Oct 8.

Of the new cases on Wednesday, 3,221 were in the community, 630 were made up of migrant worker dormitory residents and the remaining 11 were imported infections.

Among the local cases were 568 seniors above the age of 60, MOH said.

The 18 who died comprised 16 Singaporean men and two women who are citizens or permanent residents.

They were aged between 55 and 96.

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

“Seventeen of them had various underlying medical conditions, while an unvaccinated case had no known medical conditions,” said MOH.

In total, 264 people here have died from complications due to the coronavirus, including 163 this month alone.

LOCAL SITUATION

Singapore has logged a total of 158,587 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

As of Wednesday, there are 1,718 patients who are in hospital, 20 fewer than the day before.

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

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

• 17,084, or 72.3 per cent of them, are undergoing home recovery

• 3,941 (16.7 per cent) are in community care facilities

• 1,718 (7.3 per cent) are in hospital, mostly for observation

• 887 (3.8 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 98.7 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, 47.6 per cent were fully vaccinated and 52.4 per cent were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated

• Among those who have passed away in the past 28 days, 30.1 per cent were fully vaccinated and 69.9 per cent were not vaccinated or partially vaccinated

CLUSTERS UNDER MONITORING

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

A total of 43 new infections were added to these four large clusters.

Notably, there were 39 new infections linked to the Bukit Batok Home for the Aged, bringing the tally there to 92 thus far. MOH said that of the 92 cases, 90 are residents there and the remaining two are workers.

VACCINATIONS

As of Oct 19, 84 per cent of the population has been fully vaccinated, and 85 per cent has received at least one dose.

A total of​​ 9,683,226 doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme (Pfizer-BioNTech or Comirnaty and Moderna) have been administered.

So far, 4,623,926 people have received at least one dose of vaccine under the national vaccination programme, and 4,563,906 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 622,452 individuals have received their booster shots and another 92,000 have booked their appointments.

In addition, 229,117 doses of other vaccines such as Sinovac that are recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 119,071 individuals.