Singapore ― The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Tuesday (Oct 19) that the number of patients with Covid-19 in the intensive care unit (ICU) is rising, putting significant strain on hospitals.
In its daily Covid-19 update, MOH said there were 71 patients in the ICU, an increase from 67 on Monday.
MOH also detected 3,994 new cases of Covid-19 infection, comprising 3,480 community cases, 501 dormitory resident cases and 13 imported cases.
Amongst the local cases today, are 567 seniors who are above 60 years old.
On Tuesday, there were seven reported deaths from complications due to Covid-19 infection, of which five were male Singaporeans and two female Singaporeans aged between 57 and 90 years.
Amongst them, three had been unvaccinated, one partially vaccinated, and the remaining three fully vaccinated.
Six of the patients had various underlying medical conditions, while an unvaccinated case had no known medical conditions.
However, MOH noted this was the “usual post-weekend surge in cases.”
“We will monitor closely to determine if this is a temporary spike or a further surge in infections,” noted MOH.
It highlighted that authorities had observed a rise in activity levels over the past week, including at malls and in the Orchard Road area.
“The number of unvaccinated seniors above 60 who have been infected has risen over the past few days to well over 100 a day,” said MOH.
“We strongly encourage everyone, especially seniors and those with comorbidities, to limit your social activities and to go out only for essential activities.”
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung admitted feeling anxious on Tuesdays as this day usually resulted in a spike of Covid-19 cases.
“I have been feeling anxious on Tuesdays because that is when cases detected on Mondays would be reported, and it always spike after the weekends,” said Mr Ong on Facebook on Oct 13.
“We will continue to monitor the situation closely over the next few days. But it would appear the stabilisation measures are helping to moderate the transmission wave, and infection numbers are no longer doubling every week,” added Mr Ong. /TISG
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