Singapore reports 1,324 new COVID-19 cases and 8 deaths; ICU utilisation rate rises to 59.7%

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 1,324 new COVID-19 cases and eight deaths linked to the coronavirus as of noon on Wednesday (Dec 1). 

The fatalities were aged between 59 and 86. All of them, except for an unvaccinated case, had various underlying medical conditions. The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not specify what these conditions were.

This brings Singapore's death toll from the coronavirus to 726.

The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate is 59.7 per cent, up from 58.5 per cent on Tuesday. 

WEEKLY INFECTION GROWTH RATE

The weekly infection growth rate rose slightly to 0.67 from Tuesday's 0.66. This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

The growth rate has remained below 1 for 19 consecutive days. A figure below 1 means that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling.

The daily case count on Wednesday is up from the 1,239 infections reported on Tuesday.

Among the new cases, 1,311 are locally transmitted, comprising 1,266 infections in the community and 45 cases in migrant workers' dormitories.

The remaining 13 are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to the media at about 11.25pm.

As of Wednesday, Singapore has reported 266,049 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS

There were 1,054 COVID-19 cases warded in hospital. Of these, 206 required oxygen supplementation in general wards, 16 were unstable and under close monitoring in the ICU, and 61 were critically ill and intubated in the ICU.

A total of 1,535 cases were discharged over the past day, of whom 289 were seniors aged 60 and above.

As of Tuesday, 96 per cent of the eligible population in Singapore - those aged 12 and above – have completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines. About 27 per cent have received their booster shots. 

MOH did not include any large clusters in its daily update on Wednesday.