Singapore — Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary said in Parliament on Monday (Nov 1) that the country could have as many as 2,000 deaths from Covid every year.
Most of the deaths, he explained, would still be among senior citizens.
“Over time, the absolute number of deaths from COVID-19 will rise despite the best possible medical care. We could have perhaps 2,000 deaths per year from COVID-19,” he said.
He also pointed out that the rate of deaths due to Covid, which is 0.2 per cent, is similar to the rate of deaths from pneumonia before Covid struck. Dr Puthucheary added that Singapore’s death rate is lower than in countries where the number of cases surged before many members of the population were vaccinated, which is at 3 per cent or even higher.
Previous to the pandemic, 4,000 people died in Singapore each year from the flu and various other respiratory illnesses.
Dr Puthucheary said that authorities are aimed at avoiding “excess mortality” that could result from inadequate medical care.
“In other words, though we will have fatalities as a result of Covid-19, we will not see more overall deaths that we would in a normal non-Covid year. Nearly every other country that has arrived at that destination has paid a high price, in lives.”
Singapore has recently seen the largest surge in Covid infections since the beginning of the pandemic, despite having one of the highest vaccination rates around the globe. However, a vast majority of the cases are asymptomatic or mild.
There has also been an uptick in deaths, mostly among the elderly. Around 95 per cent of the people who have died since mid-year have been over the age of 60. Additionally, 72 per cent of deaths have been people who are unvaccinated. /TISG
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