More encouraged to donate blood even with 45% increase in collection

SINGAPORE - More than 1,700 donors of all blood types have stepped forward to donate blood over the past four days, a 45 per cent increase from the usual numbers, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a Facebook post on Thursday (July 14).

The Singapore Red Cross (SRC) and Mr Ong had appealed last week for donations of A+ and O+ types, with at least 600 units of A+ blood and 1,200 units of O+ blood needed in the next two weeks, failing which major elective surgical procedures requiring the two blood types would have to be postponed.

While Mr Ong did not state the number of units of each blood type donated since his post last week, he said the 45 per cent increase is "a strong sign of unity and support from everyone."

However, he urged eligible donors to continue to come forward, as "all our blood stocks are not at healthy levels yet. The blood stocks for the negative blood groups (A-, B-, O-, AB-) are also currently running low."

SRC said in a statement last week that the low A+ and O+ stocks were due to high usage of these blood types and lower-than-normal donor turnout.

While the organisation activated donors of the two blood types on Thursday last week through SMS and social media platforms, many they called have contracted Covid-19.

Singapore is currently experiencing a wave of Covid-19 infections, with the Ministry of Health attributing the increase to the spike that is normally seen after a long weekend.