1,670 new Covid-19 cases; eight people, aged between 63 and 95 years, reported dead in Singapore on Sunday (Nov 21)

The infection growth rate has been below one for nine consecutive days in Singapore. - The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE, Nov 21 (The Straits Times/ANN): There were 1,670 new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore on Sunday (Nov 21), down from 1,931 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its nightly update.

Sunday’s number is the lowest since Sept 27, when Singapore reported 1,647 daily Covid-19 cases.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate stood at 0.81, slightly up from 0.78 on Saturday.

The infection growth rate has been below one for nine 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 52.9 per cent on Sunday, down from 56.8 per cent on Saturday. It stood at 70.2 per cent on Nov 4, although the total number of ICU beds has varied during this period - between 398 and 431.

There were eight people aged between 63 and 95 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 662.

The new infections on Sunday comprised 1,577 cases in the community, 80 in migrant worker dormitories and 13 that were imported.

Of the community cases, 273 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 252,188.

Among clusters under close monitoring is Jenaris Home at Pelangi Village, where 12 new cases were detected to bring the total infection number to 86. Sunlove Senior Care Centre at 70 Buangkok View also has three new cases, bring the total Covid-19 infection count to 18. - The Straits Times/ANN