1,931 new infections; ICU utilisation rate dips to 56.8%

There were 1,931 new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore yesterday, up from 1,734 on Friday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its nightly update.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate stood at 0.78, slightly up from 0.77 on Friday.

The infection growth rate has been below one for eight consecutive days. 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 one shows that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is declining.

The intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate has been on the decline in the past two weeks. The figure was at 56.8 per cent yesterday, down from 57 per cent on Friday. It stood at 70.2 per cent on Nov 4, although the total number of intensive care unit beds has varied during this period - between 398 and 431.

There were 13 people aged between 62 and 98 who died of complications linked to Covid-19, MOH said. All of them, except for an unvaccinated case, had various underlying medical conditions, it added, without giving further details.

The latest deaths take the total number of fatalities in Singapore to 654.

The new infections yesterday comprised 1,867 cases in the community, 58 in migrant worker dormitories and six that were imported. Of the community cases, 333 are seniors aged 60 and above.

There are also 60 people who are critically ill and intubated in the ICU, which means they need ventilators to help them breathe.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 250,518.

Among the clusters under close monitoring by MOH is Sunlove Senior Care Centre at Buangkok View, which added two cases yesterday for a total of 12 infections. Of these cases, two are staff, seven are clients and three are household members.

Pacific Healthcare Nursing Home at Lengkok Bahru in Alexandra added four cases for a total of 13 infections - all residents at the home.