Singapore records 3,474 new Covid-19 cases; ICU utilisation rate falls to 62.6%

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 244,815. - ST

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate in Singapore has fallen to 62.6 per cent, down from 63.3 per cent on Tuesday (Nov 16).

The Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily Covid-19 update also said there were 3,474 new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore on Wednesday (Nov 17), up from 2,069 the day before.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate was at 0.89, slightly up from 0.88 on Tuesday.

The weekly infection growth rate has been below one for five 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.

There were seven people aged between 47 and 83 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 619.

Wednesday's new infections comprised 3,320 cases in the community, 144 in migrant worker dormitories and 10 imported cases.

Of the community cases, 506 are seniors aged 60 and above.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 244,815.

There are 1,468 patients in hospital, and 242 patients require oxygen supplementation in general hospital wards with 48 who are unstable and being closely monitored in the ICU.

There are also 64 who are critically ill and intubated in the ICU, which means they need ventilators to help them breathe.

Among clusters under close monitoring by MOH are Econ Medicare Centre and Nursing Home in Choa Chu Kang with three new cases, and Jamiyah Nursing Home with seven cases.

Banyan Home at Pelangi Village also had five new cases, bringing the cluster to 108. Of these, 107 are residents while one is a staff member.

Carpe Diem at the Institute of Technical Education also had one new case, bringing its total to 19.

So far, 85 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated, 86 per cent have received at least one dose and 21 per cent have received booster shots.