S’pore netizens on daily COVID-19 deaths — There’s nothing to be happy about

Singapore — In response to the daily Covid-19 situation report in Singapore, members of the public expressed concerns about the number of deaths despite the infection growth rate decreasing.

On Sunday (Nov 7), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 2,553 new cases of Covid-19 infection, comprising 2,343 community cases, 205 dormitory resident cases and five imported cases.

Amongst the community cases, 425 are seniors aged 60 years and above. The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before is 0.81, a decrease from the 0.83 reported on Saturday.

This was the fifth consecutive day that the weekly infection growth rate has remained below 1.

In its report, MOH noted that 17 more cases have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.

The individuals, aged between 45 and 89 years, had various underlying medical conditions, except for an 85-year-old vaccinated patient who had no known medical condition, said MOH.

There are 296 cases requiring oxygen supplementation in the general ward, 70 who are unstable and under close monitoring in the intensive care unit and 60 who are critically ill and intubated in the ICU.

Despite the weekly infection growth rate being below 1, which is a key indicator that restrictions could be eased, members from the online community found the number of deaths worrying.

“Daily over 10 people passed away due to Covid, very sad and worrying. How long can this go on?” asked Facebook user Lee Andrew, his comment garnering over 50 likes.

“The MTF (multi-ministry taskforce for Covid-19) doesn’t seem to worry about the number of death every day,” said another netizen.

“Still so many deaths daily. Nothing to be happy about even if the index is below 1! Something is very wrong!” said Facebook user Cynthia Tan.

Another individual commented, “Seriously, there is nothing to be happy about. It’s just playing with numbers. Reduce in ICU increase in death. One particular day with 5,000 new cases over average day of 3,000 new cases. Whatever you are trying to achieve makes no sense; the fact is that we are going to lose many of our old and vulnerable ones’ lives apart from natural death.” /TISG

Read related: Weekly Covid-19 local case growth rate slips below 1, can curbs be eased next?

Weekly Covid-19 local case growth rate slips below 1, can curbs be eased next?