PM Lee to address nation on Covid-19 situation at noon on Saturday

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong will address the nation in a live broadcast on Saturday at noon.

In a short Facebook post on Friday evening, he said he will speak about the country's Covid-19 situation and "the path to a new normal". The speech will be beamed live on his Facebook page and on all Mediacorp channels.

"Please carry on as per normal. There is no need to rush out to stock up on items or dine out!" he wrote in the three-sentence post, which was accompanied by a photo of a lectern inside the Istana.

On Friday night, Singapore reported 3,590 new daily Covid-19 infections, which took the country's total case count to 120,454. This was the fourth straight day that the Ministry of Health reported over 3,000 new daily cases. There were also six more deaths, which brought Singapore's fatality count from the coronavirus to 142.

In a press release on Friday, MOH said that the doubling time of community infections has slowed, from six to eight days three weeks ago, to about 10 to 12 days now.

It added that the large daily numbers have placed "significant strain" on the healthcare system, with healthcare workers - who have been stretched for nearly two years - "bearing the brunt of the burden".

Giving an update on Singapore's hospital occupancy rate, the ministry said almost all Covid-19 patients (98.4 per cent) continue to be asymptomatic or report mild symptoms. About 1.3 per cent need oxygen supplementation in a hospital, with 0.1 per cent warded in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Currently, around 7 per cent of patients are admitted into hospitals because of more severe symptoms or pre-existing medical risks which require close observation, said MOH.

As a result, about 20 per cent of hospital beds in acute and community public hospitals are taken up by Covid-19 patients.

The ministry said ICU beds are disproportionately occupied by seniors 60 years and older who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. They represent 1.5 per cent of Singapore's total population, but account for two-thirds of those needing ICU care.

The occupancy of critically ill cases in ICU was 23.5 per cent as at Oct 7, while the occupancy for Covid-19 isolation beds has risen from 62 per cent in July this year to 85 per cent for October.

MOH said the number of Covid-19 beds has gone up from 900 to 2,500 in the last three months. Of these, about 170 are ICU beds, and another 100 can be stood up to handle ICU cases at short notice.

In the past three months, the number of patients seeking medical attention at the emergency departments (EDs) after testing positive for Covid-19 has increased by eight times, said MOH, adding that many were eventually admitted, mostly for precautionary observation.

The waiting time for public hospitals from the EDs to admission for non-Covid patients has increased by 34 per cent from July to September, partly due to fewer beds available for this group.