9 more deaths as Singapore reports 3,348 new COVID-19 cases

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 3,348 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Saturday (Oct 16) with nine more people dying from complications due to the virus.

The fatalities, who were all Singaporean, are four men and five women aged between 60 and 89. Five were unvaccinated against COVID-19, two were partially vaccinated and two were vaccinated. 

Eight of them had various underlying medical conditions, while an unvaccinated case had no known medical conditions. The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not specify what these conditions were. 

This brings Singapore's death toll from the coronavirus to 224.

The 3,348 new cases reported on Saturday were a decrease from the 3,445 reported on Friday.

Among the new cases, 3,344 are locally transmitted, comprising 2,688 infections in the community and 656 in migrant worker dormitories.

Four are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to media at about 11.40pm.

As of Saturday, Singapore has reported a total of 145,120 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS AND HOME RECOVERY

Among all COVID-19 community cases that have been onboarded or admitted, 16,580 patients, or 76.5 per cent, are undergoing home recovery.

Another 2,862 are in community care facilities and 766 in COVID-19 treatment facilities.

The remaining 1,464 patients are currently warded in hospital, mostly for observation, said MOH. Of these, 310 patients need oxygen supplementation and 62 are in intensive care. On Friday, there were 48 were in intensive care. 

Over the last 28 days, out of 68,147 infected individuals, 1.1 per cent needed oxygen supplementation and 0.1 per cent were in intensive care.

Among those who needed oxygen supplementation or intensive care, 49.4 per cent were fully vaccinated and 50.6 per cent were unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

ACTIVE CLUSTERS

MOH said it is "closely monitoring" two active clusters.

There are a total of 59 cases in the cluster at ECON Medicare Centre and Nursing Home in Buangkok, with two reported on Saturday. Three of the cases are staff members, while the remaining 56 are residents.

An existing cluster at United Medicare Centre in Toa Payoh added four cases for a total of 123 infections. A majority of the cases are residents, with staff members and a household member of a case also among the infected.

CHANGI AIRPORT REOPENS ARRIVAL HALLS

Family and friends of passengers arriving at Changi Airport from low-risk countries and regions can now enter the arrival halls to greet them.

Before this, they were only allowed to receive travellers from the terminal's arrival pick-up kerbside, due to tighter COVID-19 measures put in place when terminals 1 and 3 reopened to the public in September.

Access to the arrival halls had been limited to professional meet-and-greet services such as hotel representatives and company agents.

With the easing of restrictions, one representative is allowed to pick up each arriving passenger group, said Changi Airport on its website.