S'pore reports 3,635 new Covid-19 cases; weekly infection growth rate drops below 1

There were 3,223 Covid-19 cases in the community, 409 in the migrant worker dormitories and three imported cases. ST PHOTO: SAMUEL ANG

SINGAPORE - The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate was at 0.96 on Wednesday (Nov 3), down from 1.09 on Tuesday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

This is the first time it has dropped below 1.0 since MOH started reporting the figure.

The infection rate refers to the ratio of community cases in the past week over the week before. A weekly infection growth rate that is more than one shows that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is still increasing.

There were also 3,635 new Covid-19 infections reported on Wednesday.

Twelve people aged between 59 and 99 have also died of complications linked to Covid-19. All of them had various underlying medical conditions, said MOH in its daily update, without giving further details.

The new deaths take Singapore's total number of fatalities to 442.

The number of new cases comprised 3,223 in the community, 409 in migrant worker dormitories and three imported cases.

The local cases included 535 people above 60 years old.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 207,975.

There are 1,665 patients in hospital, and 293 patients require oxygen supplementation in general hospital wards, with 72 who are unstable and being closely monitored in the intensive care unit (ICU).

There are also 69 patients who are critically ill and intubated in the ICU, meaning they need ventilators to help them breathe.

The ICU occupancy rate is 72.7 per cent, the same as on Tuesday. The rate has fluctuated over the past week from last Wednesday - with the highest at 79.8 per cent and the lowest being 67.1 per cent.

Of the 410 ICU beds, 141 are currently occupied by Covid-19 patients. Another 157 are occupied by those with non-Covid-19 conditions and 112 beds are empty.

The Institute of Mental Health saw seven new cases reported on Wednesday, bringing its cluster to 294 cases. Of these, 278 are patients and 16 are staff.

Other clusters under close monitoring are Growing Learners Student Care in Clementi and PCF Sparkletots @ Whampoa Block 85, which have four new cases each.

Acacia Home in Admiralty and Banyan Home @ Pelangi Village in Buangkok added two new cases each.

One new case each was added to NTUC Health Nursing Home in Jurong West and Geylang East, Jamiyah Home for the Aged in Tampines and Maple Bear pre-school in Loyang.

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said last month that if the weekly Covid-19 infection growth rate falls below one, people from the same household may be allowed to dine out in groups of up to five.

Another condition was that the hospital situation remains stable, especially in intensive care units.

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