Singapore’s daily caseload totalled around 22,000 on March8, compared to some 26,000 two weeks ago. Among them, 1,499 were hospitalised,including 49 in intensive care units.
Dr Janil Puthucheary, Senior Minister of State for Health,said clinics run by general practitioners, as well as hospitals andhealthcare workers, are still under pressure caused by the Omicron wave. Muchof this pressure comes from people who remain unvaccinated.
He said 3 percent of the country’s adult population who werenot fully vaccinated accounted for 25 percent of ICU cases and deaths. Againstthis, people who have received their booster shots are 33 times less likelythan those who are not fully vaccinated, to die from COVID-19, he emphasised.
Singapore is still enforcing vaccination-differentiated safemanagement measures (VDS) to protect people who are unvaccinated or partiallyvaccinated while allowing the others to resume normal activities.
To step up ICU beds significantly, as of January, thecountry has provided training for more than 800 non-ICU nurses as a reserve toaugment ICU nursing manpower by up to 57 percent./.
VNA