Singapore: Despite 84% Fully Vaccinated, Daily New Covid-19 Cases Breaches 5,000; Health Ministry Monitoring 'Unusual Surge'

Singapore reported 5,324 new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore on Wednesday (Oct 27) , the first time the daily case number has breached the 5,000 mark.

The country's ministry of health said the infection numbers were unusually high because many Covid-19 cases were detected by testing laboratories within a few hours on Wednesday afternoon.

The ministry said that It “looking into this unusual surge in cases within a relatively short window, and closely monitoring the trends for the next few days”.

Among the new infections recorded on Wednesday, 4,651 were in the community, 661 were in migrant worker dormitories and the remaining 12 were imported. The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 184,419.

Ten more people between the ages of 54 and 96 succumbed to Covid-19 complications taking the total death toll due to the pandemic to 349.. All of them had various underlying medical conditions, except one who was unvaccinated, said MOH.

Of Singapore’s 357 ICU beds, 285 were occupied on Wednesday – 142 by Covid-19 patients – putting ICU utilisation rate at 79.8 per cent. The ministry said it was in the process of scaling up more ICU beds. As of Wednesday, the number of patients requiring oxygen support 308.

Another 849 were undergoing treatment Covid-19 dedicated facilities, while 1,777 are in hospitals, mostly for observation.

While 85% of the country's 5.5 million population has received at least one dose of vaccination, 84% is fully vaccinated.