101-year-old among 17 COVID deaths in Singapore; 3,481 new cases

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (10 November) confirmed 3,481 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore – bringing the country's total case count to 227,681 – as well as 17 deaths due to the disease.

Wednesday marks the second straight day that the city-state reported over 3,000 infections.

It also marks the 52nd day in a row with fatalities from COVID-19 reported in Singapore, with 124 people having succumbed to it so far this month.

The 524th to 540th fatalities here were aged between 65 and 101. All had various underlying medical conditions.

Among the new cases, 3,473 are local – 3,244 are in the community while 229 are dormitory residents. The remaining eight cases are imported.

Among the community cases are 506 cases who are aged 60 years and above, the MOH said.

The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before – or the weekly infection growth rate – is 0.88, up from Tuesday's 0.82. This is the eighth day in a row that the figure was reported to be below one.

Seven active COVID-19 clusters are being closely monitored in Singapore, of which all except one are nursing or welfare homes.

Of the listed clusters, the highest number of four new cases was added to the cluster at the Institute of Mental Health. The cluster, the largest of the seven, has 408 cases – 381 patients and 27 staff members.

Two new cases were also added to the MWS Nursing Home's Yew Tee branch, now totalling 17 infections. All but one – a staff member – are residents.

261 require oxygen supplementation; 129 in ICU

A total of 2,495 cases were discharged on Wednesday, of whom 433 are patients aged 60 and above, said the MOH.

Currently, 1,686 cases are warded in hospital. Over the last 28 days, of the 92,132 infected individuals, 98.7 per cent had no or mild symptoms.

There are currently 261 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation.

A total of 137 cases are in the intensive care unit (ICU) – 62 are unstable and under close monitoring to prevent further deterioration, while 75 are critically ill and intubated.

The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 71 per cent, down from Tuesday's 72.4 per cent.

The MOH noted that over the past seven days, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who are critically ill in the ICU are at 0.5 and 5.3 per 100,000 population, respectively.

Over the same period, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who died are 0.1 and 1 per 100,000 population, respectively, it added.

Among those aged 60 and above, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who are critically ill in the ICU are 1.9 and 45.8, respectively. The number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated seniors who died are 0.4 and 9.5, respectively, said the MOH.

Apart from the 540 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.

As of Tuesday, 85 per cent of the population have completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 86 per cent have received at least one dose and 19 per cent have received their booster shots.

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