Singapore reports 766 new COVID-19 cases and 9 more deaths; ICU utilisation rate at 57.3%

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 766 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths linked to the coronavirus on Friday (Dec 3).

The daily caseload fell below 1,000 for the first time since Nov 28.

The fatalities were aged between 67 and 98. All of them 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 744.

The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate is 57.3 per cent, up from 56.4 per cent on Thursday.

WEEKLY INFECTION GROWTH RATE

The weekly infection growth rate rose slightly to 0.71 from Thursday's 0.70. This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

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

The daily case count on Friday is down from the 1,101 infections reported on Thursday.

Among the new cases, 749 are locally transmitted, comprising 738 infections in the community and 11 cases in migrant workers' dormitories.

The remaining 17 are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to the media at about 10.05pm.

As of Friday, Singapore has reported 267,916 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS

There are 931 COVID-19 cases warded in hospital. Of these, 183 require oxygen supplementation in general wards, 13 are unstable and under close monitoring in the ICU, and 50 are critically ill and intubated in the ICU.

A total of 1,393 cases were discharged over the past day, of whom 215 were seniors aged 60 and above.

As of Thursday, 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 also said it was currently "closely monitoring" a large cluster at Jenaris Home @ Pelangi Village, which grew to 128 cases on Friday.