747 new cases - figure under 1,000 for first time since Sept 20

There were 747 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, down from 1,761 on Saturday and falling below the 1,000 mark for the first time since Sept 20.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate was 0.69, down from 0.75 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update.

This is the 16th day in a row that the growth rate has been below one. 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 falling.

The intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate was at 57.4 per cent yesterday, up from 56.6 per cent on Saturday.

There were 11 people aged between 67 and 98 who died of complications linked to Covid-19, MOH said.

All of them had various underlying medical conditions, it added, without giving further details.

The latest deaths take the total number of fatalities in Singapore to 701.

The new infections comprised 719 cases in the community, 25 in migrant worker dormitories and three imported cases.

Of the community cases, 135 were seniors aged 60 and above.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 262,383.

In the last 28 days, 98.7 per cent of local infected cases were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, 0.8 per cent required oxygen supplementation in the general ward, and 0.1 per cent were unstable and under close monitoring in the ICU to prevent further deterioration.

About 0.1 per cent had been critically ill and intubated in the ICU, which means they needed ventilators to help them breathe.

Among the clusters under close monitoring is Pacific Healthcare Nursing Home near Jalan Bukit Merah, with nine new cases that take its total to 44.

Three new cases were added to the Econ Healthcare Nursing Home in Chai Chee, bringing its tally to 41.

As at last Friday, 85 per cent of the population have completed the full vaccination regimen or taken two doses of the vaccines, and 25 per cent have taken booster shots.

MOH said: "Seniors 60 years old and above, especially if unvaccinated, continue to be more adversely affected by Covid-19."