Slight drop in Covid-19 cases in ICU but deaths yet to subside

Unvaccinated seniors continue to make up the bulk of critically ill Covid-19 patients in the intensive care units (ICUs) and deaths have yet to subside, said Singapore's director of medical services, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak.

But the good news is that the Covid-19 cases in the ICUs have dropped slightly, he added.

If they continue to fall, more healthcare workers will be able to take a breather from fighting Covid-19, he said at a press conference held by the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19 yesterday.

As at Sunday, there were 1,525 Covid-19 patients in hospital, of whom 52 were under close monitoring in the ICU and 69 were in critical condition.

The overall ICU utilisation rate here has dropped to 63.3 per cent, compared with 66.3 per cent a day ago and nearly 70 per cent a week ago, Health Ministry data shows.

Prof Mak said that among the critically ill and intubated Covid-19 ICU patients above the age of 70, there was a seven-day moving average rate of 45.8 per 100,000 of them who are not fully vaccinated, compared with 6.4 per 100,000 who are fully vaccinated.

In this age group, the death rate was 13.7 per 100,000 among those not fully vaccinated compared with 1.6 among the fully vaccinated.

"The slight decrease in number of cases, both Covid and non-Covid, in the ICU is a promising trend," said Prof Mak.

"It provides a slight reprieve, but we will need to see and watch the figures closely over the next few weeks to see if the trend is sustained. And if so, I do look forward to the hospitals allowing more staff to go on leave and get a well-earned rest."

The authorities lifted the suspension of overseas leave application for all healthcare workers last month.

However, as healthcare manpower remains a severe constraint, given the very high number of Covid-19 cases in hospitals, leave has to be carefully planned and rostered.

Prof Mak also said at the press conference that there has been a small decrease in the number of seniors above the age of 60 getting infected with Covid-19.

The majority of Covid-19 cases - about 98.7 per cent - are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.

Less than 7 per cent of those infected with Covid-19 needed to be cared for in hospitals, and those who did either had more severe symptoms or had high-risk factors or worse outcomes from the infection, said Prof Mak.

So far, a total of 586 people here have died from Covid-19 complications.

• In the past seven days, in the group of critically ill and intubated Covid-19 patients who are aged 70 and above, those who are not fully vaccinated numbered 45.8 per 100,000 people. The rate was 6.4 per 100,000 for those who are fully vaccinated.

• In this age group, the death rate was 13.7 per 100,000 among those not fully vaccinated, compared with 1.6 among the fully vaccinated.

• As for those aged between 60 and 69 who were critically ill with Covid-19, 49.7 per 100,000 were not fully vaccinated. Those fully vaccinated numbered 2.6 per 100,000.