SINGAPORE, Oct 30 (The Straits Times/ANN): Fourteen people aged 63 to 98 have died of complications linked to Covid-19, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Oct 30).
All had various underlying medical conditions, said MOH in its daily virus update.
The new deaths take Singapore's toll to 394.
There were also 3,112 new Covid-19 infections reported on Saturday. They comprised 2,608 new cases in the community, 500 in migrant worker dormitories and four imported cases.
The weekly infection growth rate is at 1.14, down from 1.15 on Friday.
This refers to the ratio of community cases in the past week over the week before. A weekly infection growth rate that is more than one shows that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is still increasing.
Saturday's community cases include 408 seniors aged 60 and above.
The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 195,211.
MOH said there are currently 267 patients who require oxygen supplementation in general hospital wards, 69 who are unstable and are being closely monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU), and 60 who are critically ill and intubated in the ICU.
The overall utilisation rate of the ICU is at 68 per cent, down from 74 per cent the day before.
Of the 382 ICU beds, 129 are currently occupied by Covid-19 patients. Another 131 are occupied by those with non-Covid-19 conditions and 122 beds are empty.
The large clusters under close monitoring are Orange Valley Nursing Home (Clementi), ECON Medicare Centre and Nursing Home at 10 Buangkok View Block 9, St Luke's Hospital, PCF Sparkletots @ Changi Simei Block 141, PCF Sparkletots @ Whampoa Block 85, Institute of Mental Health and Banyan Home @ Pelangi Village in Buangkok.
The ministry said earlier on Saturday that eligible individuals in Singapore may take the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine from Oct. 30, reports Xinhua.
This followed the announcement of the Singaporean government's Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Oct. 23 about including the vaccine in the National Vaccination Programme (NVP) for those aged 18 years and above and who are unable to be vaccinated with mRNA vaccines.
The MOH also said that its study has shown that vaccination boosters confer significant additional protection against Covid-19 infection and severe illness.
When compared with persons eligible for the booster but who have not yet received it, the booster further reduces the risk of Covid-19 infection by around 70 per cent, and the risk of severe infections by around 90 percent.
Such protection is on top of the protection that the initial two doses of mRNA vaccines under the NVP already provide against Covid-19. - The Straits Times/ANN
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