Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

Singapore

Singapore reports 1,734 new COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths; overall ICU rate falls to 57%

Singapore reports 1,734 new COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths; overall ICU rate falls to 57%

People cross the road at Church Street on Sep 6, 2021. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 1,734 new COVID-19 cases and 16 more deaths linked to the coronavirus as of noon on Friday (Nov 19).

The fatalities were aged between 52 and 93. All of them, except for an unvaccinated case, had various underlying medical conditions. The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not specify what these medical conditions were. 

Singapore's death toll from the coronavirus now stands at 641.

The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate is at 57 per cent, after falling on Thursday to below 60 per cent for the first time since records were released about three weeks ago.

This is the lowest since MOH first released information on the overall ICU utilisation rate on Oct 25, when the rate was 83.6 per cent. 

WEEKLY INFECTION GROWTH RATE

The number of new cases reported on Friday is down from the 2,038 infections reported on Thursday.

The weekly infection growth rate is 0.77 as of Friday, the lowest it has been since MOH started releasing this information on Aug 27. 

The weekly infection growth rate - which refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before - has stayed below 1 for seven consecutive days.

Of the new cases reported on Friday, 1,730 are locally transmitted, comprising 1,633 infections in the community and 97 cases in migrant workers' dormitories.

The number of COVID-19 community cases reported on Friday is the lowest since Sep 27.

The remaining four are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to the media at about 10.25pm. 

As of Friday, Singapore has reported 248,587 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS

A total of 1,346 cases are warded in hospital, the lowest since Oct 3, when there were 1,337 COVID-19 patients in hospital.

Of those currently in hospital, 202 patients require oxygen supplementation in general wards, 46 cases are unstable and under close monitoring in the ICU, and 64 are critically ill and intubated.

A total of 2,874 cases were discharged over the past day, of whom 456 are seniors aged above 60.

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

As of Thursday, 22 per cent of Singapore's population have received their booster shots. A total of 94 per cent of the eligible population - those aged 12 and above - have completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Of the 82,752 cases over the last 28 days, 98.7 per cent had mild symptoms or were asymptomatic, while 0.8 per cent required oxygen supplementation in the general ward, 0.2 per cent were in the ICU and 0.2 per cent died.

CLUSTERS

MOH said it is "closely monitoring" five large clusters, including two pre-schools and three nursing homes. 

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus pandemic: https://cna.asia/telegram

Source: CNA/vc

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement