Singapore’s daily COVID cases top 5,000 for first time due to ‘unusual surge’

Singapore reported more than 5,000 new daily COVID-19 infections for the first time on Wednesday (October 27) due to an “unusual surge” in cases.

Health authorities reported 5,324 new cases as of noon, with 4,651 in the community and 661 in the migrant-worker dormitories. Ten more people died, bringing the city-state’s toll from the coronavirus to 349.

“The infection numbers are unusually high today, mostly due to many COVID-positive cases detected by the testing laboratories within a few hours in the afternoon,” the ministry said in a statement. 

“MOH is looking into this unusual surge in cases within a relatively short window, and closely monitoring the trends for the next few days,” it said.

The fatalities were aged between 54 and 96 and all except one unvaccinated case had various underlying conditions. 

Wednesday’s tally was a sharp increase from Tuesday’s count of 3,277 cases and the previous high of 3,994 reported on October 19.

As of Wednesday, Singapore had reported a total of 184,419 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

As of Tuesday, 84 per cent of people have received the full regimen or two doses of vaccines, while 85 per cent have received at least one dose and 14 per cent have received their booster shots.

The ministry said it is monitoring seven active clusters.