14 Covid-19 Deaths On 25 Oct, 116 Cases Linked To IMH Cluster

14 New Covid-19 Deaths All Suffered From Underlying Medical Conditions

On Monday (25 Oct), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 3,174 new Covid-19 cases including 2,843 in the community.

Tragically, 14 more seniors aged 60 and above have passed away due to Covid-19 complications.

MOH also reported a new cluster at the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) comprising 116 cases.

14 news Covid-19 deaths involve patients aged 60 & above

In an update on Monday (25 Oct) evening, MOH confirmed 3,174 new infections comprising:

• 2,843 community cases
• 322 dormitories cases
• 9 imported cases

Worryingly, our infection growth rate, which compares the number of new cases over the past week to the same period before, has climbed to 1.18 from 0.97-0.99 between 16-18 Oct.

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This essentially means that our Covid-19 cases over the last 7 days have grown by 18% from the week before.

14 more patients have also passed away from Covid-19 complications. These comprised seniors aged between 60 and 93 years old. All of them had underlying medical conditions.

In total, 329 people have succumbed to Covid-19 complications in Singapore.

83.6% of ICU capacity occupied

Meanwhile, our ICU continues to be under considerable strain, with 83.6% of beds currently utilised.

As of 25 Oct, 64 Covid-19 patients in the ICU are critically ill and intubated while another 107 are in unstable condition and require close monitoring.

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Another 135 patients are in the ICU due to non-Covid reasons, such as post-surgery care.

New cluster at IMH has 116 cases

MOH is currently keeping a close eye on 7 active clusters, including a new one at IMH which has 116 cases linked.

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Of the cases, 108 involve residents while 8 are staff members.

In a press statement, IMH said the cases were detected through a surveillance testing programme at the hospital.

Thankfully, most of these cases are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms. They are currently being cared for in separate, dedicated wards.

While admissions to the affected wards have been suspended, operations are unaffected at the other wards which are still admitting and seeing patients.

Other clusters mostly include care & nursing homes

5 other clusters on MOH’s ‘closely monitored’ list involve care and nursing homes:

• AWWA Community Home for Senior Citizens – 1 new case, 71 total
• Banyan Home @ Pelangi Village – 5 new cases, 71 total
• Bukit Batok Home for the Aged – 7 new cases, 154 total
• MWS Christalite Methodist Home – 2 new cases 124 total
• United Medical Centre – Toa Payoh – 1 new case, 137 total

Similar to the IMH cluster, most of the cases linked to these clusters are residents.

The remaining cluster is at PCF Sparkletots @ Zhenghua, a pre-school in Choa Chu Kang.

25 cases are linked to the cluster thus far, comprising:

• 13 students
• 5 staff members
• 7 household contacts of positive cases

Hope our infection growth rate falls

News of so many new Covid-19 fatalities coupled with the emergence of such a large cluster is certainly worrying.

With an apparent uptick in our infection growth rate, we hope Singapore residents will be socially responsible and avoid any unnecessary social gatherings to protect themselves and those around them.

With our collective effort and Lady Luck on our side, we hope the indicator will start falling soon, thereby giving the authorities confidence to ease prevailing Covid-19 measures.

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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.