18 die from Covid-19, weekly infection rate dips to 0.88

There were 2,069 new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore yesterday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The weekly infection growth rate dipped to 0.88, down from 0.94 on Monday.

The infection growth rate has been below 1 for four consecutive days after it rose above 1 last Friday.

The number refers to the ratio of community cases in the past week over the week before.

A weekly infection growth rate that is consistently below 1 shows that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is declining.

Eighteen people aged between 67 and 95 died of complications linked to Covid-19, said MOH.

All of them had various underlying medical conditions, said the ministry, without giving further details.

The new deaths take the total number of fatalities in Singapore to 612.

Among clusters under close monitoring by MOH is Jenaris Home at Pelangi Village with 25 new cases, bringing the cluster to 63 cases. Of the cases, 61 are residents while two are staff.

Yesterday's new infections comprised 2,021 cases in the community, 43 in migrant worker dormitories and five that were imported.

Of the community cases, 355 are seniors aged 60 and above.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 241,341.

The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate yesterday was at 63.3 per cent, down from 63.6 per cent on Monday, said MOH. This is because 32 ICU beds were added yesterday, bringing the total to 430 ICU beds here.