2,553 COVID-19 Cases Reported on 18 Oct With 6 New Deaths

By
Shawn Ambrose
-
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Many of us have complained about the tightened measures, but they’re clearly working.

Remember when cases were doubling every week or so? Well, you would have noticed that the rate of increase has been slowing down in the past week.

Case numbers have hovered around the 3,000 mark for the last few days, and took a huge dip yesterday.

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Sadly, more COVID-19 cases continue to succumb to the disease.

6 COVID-19 Fatalities; One Fully Vaccinated

Six more COVID-19 cases passed away from complications, bringing our death toll to 239.

They were four men and two women, aged between 78 and 93. Four were unvaccinated against COVID-19, one was partially vaccinated, and one was fully vaccinated.

All had various underlying medical conditions, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

2,553 New COVID-19 Cases

2,553 new COVID-19 cases were reported yesterday (18 Oct), a decrease of 505 from the previous day’s tally. It’s the lowest case count since 11 Oct, when 2,263 cases were reported.

The cases comprise 2,008 infections in the community, 544 in migrant worker dormitories, and one imported infection.

Among the local cases are 359 seniors above 60.

MOH Adds Residential Care Facility Cluster to List

MOH is closely monitoring six large clusters at the moment, including a newly added one at Bukit Batok Home for the Aged. The residential care facility has 52 cases, comprising 51 residents and one staff member.

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One new case each was also added to three existing clusters, namely:

  • St. Andrew’s Nursing Home (Taman Jurong) – 16 cases
  • Apex Harmony Lodge – 13 cases
  • MWS Christalite Methodist Home – 110 cases

The other two clusters, at United Medicare Centre (Toa Payoh) and MY World Preschool @ Hougang Dewcourt, had two cases linked to each of them.

The nursing home cluster is currently our largest cluster with 128 cases. The cases comprise 8 staff, 109 residents, and one household contact of a case.

The preschool cluster has 16 infections.

1,714 COVID-19 Cases in Hospital; 67 in ICU

At present, there are 1,714 COVID-19 cases warded in hospitals, most of whom are well and under observation.

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337 serious cases require oxygen supplementation and 67 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

In addition, there are 15,132 cases undergoing home recovery, 3,209 in community care facilities, and 858 are in COVID-19 treatment facilities.

Currently, 84% of our population has been fully vaccinated. 85% have received at least one dose.

Of those who have passed away over the last 28 days, 25.5% were fully vaccinated and 74.5% were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

Ong Ye Kung: S’pore COVID-19 Strategy is not a ‘Flip-Flop’

In response to frustrations over the tightened measures currently in place, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung maintained that the government’s COVID-19 strategy is not a “flip-flop”.

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The authorities did not opt for a purely “zero-Covid” or “living with Covid” approach, but did what was necessary according to the severity of our COVID-19 situation here, he said.

This meant imposing curbs when residents were vulnerable and opening up when our vaccination rate had increased, he said.

“Some may feel that this middle-of-the-road approach is unclear, and may even appear to be a ‘flip-flop’. But it has helped us avert the massive deaths that many countries have suffered from,” Mr Ong said.

“It is the correct approach for Singapore and, day by day, we are moving closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Watch this video to the end as two of us discuss more about the path to endemic:

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Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com (Image for illustration purpose only)

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]