1,723 new COVID cases, 10 more deaths in Singapore

SINGAPORE —The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sunday (14 November) confirmed 1,723 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore – bringing the country's total case count to 237,203 – as well as 10 deaths due to the disease.

Sunday marks the first time since 5 November that the city-state recorded less than 2,000 cases.

It was the 56th day in a row with fatalities from COVID-19 reported in Singapore, with 170 people having succumbed to it so far this month.

The 575th to 586th fatalities here were aged between 60 and 96. All of them had various underlying medical conditions.

Of the new cases, 1,717 are local – 1,651 are in the community and 66 are residents of migrant worker dormitories. The remaining six are imported. In the community are 307 cases who are aged 60 years and above, said the MOH.

The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before – or the weekly infection growth rate – is reported to be 0.97, down from Saturday's 0.98. This is the second day in a row where the figure is lower than 1.

The rate was 1.04 on Friday, breaking a nine-day streak of recording a figure lower than 1.

Six active COVID-19 clusters are being closely monitored in Singapore, of which three are nursing or welfare homes.

Of the listed clusters, the highest number of six new cases was added to a cluster at Iman Childcare's Woodgrove branch. The cluster has 27 cases – 18 students, six staff members, and three household contacts.

Two new cases were each added to clusters at Safari House Preschool's Toa Payoh branch and NTUC Health Nursing Home's Chai Chee branch, totalling 18 infections per cluster.

One new case was also added to the cluster at the Institute of Mental Health, the largest of six. The cluster has 423 cases – 396 patients and 27 staff members.

242 require oxygen supplementation; 121 in ICU

A total of 2,202 cases were discharged on Sunday, of whom 393 are patients aged 60 and above, said the MOH.

Currently, 1,525 cases are warded in hospital. Over the last 28 days, of the 88,848 infected individuals, 98.7 per cent had no or mild symptoms.

There are currently 242 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation.

A total of 121 cases are in the intensive care unit (ICU) – 52 are unstable and under close monitoring to prevent further deterioration, while 69 are critically ill and intubated.

The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 63.3 per cent, down from Saturday's 66.3 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 5.4 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 0.9 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 48, respectively. The number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated seniors who died are 0.4 and 9.2, respectively, said the MOH.

Apart from the 586 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 Saturday, 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 20 per cent have received their booster shots.

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