Singapore reports 1,101 new COVID-19 cases and 9 deaths; ICU utilisation rate at 56.4%

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 1,101 new COVID-19 cases and nine deaths linked to the coronavirus on Thursday (Dec 2).

The fatalities were aged between 56 and 99. 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 735.

The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate is 56.4 per cent, down from 59.7 per cent on Wednesday.

WEEKLY INFECTION GROWTH RATE

The weekly infection growth rate rose to 0.70 from Wednesday's 0.67. This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

The growth rate has remained below 1 for 20 consecutive days. A figure below 1 means that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling.

The daily case count on Thursday is down from the 1,324 infections reported on Wednesday.

Among the new cases, 1,091 are locally transmitted, comprising 1,050 infections in the community and 41 cases in migrant workers' dormitories.

The remaining 10 are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to the media at about 11.05pm.

As of Thursday, Singapore has reported 267,150 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Earlier on Thursday, MOH announced that two passengers who arrived in Singapore from South Africa on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight had tested "preliminarily positive" for the Omicron COVID-19 variant.

Both cases were isolated upon arrival in Singapore on Dec 1, and had not interacted in the community, said the ministry.

HOSPITALISATIONS AND VACCINATIONS

There are 991 COVID-19 cases warded in hospital. Of these, 194 require oxygen supplementation in general wards, nine are unstable and under close monitoring in the ICU, and 60 are critically ill and intubated in the ICU.

A total of 2,056 cases were discharged over the past day, of whom 332 were seniors aged 60 and above.

As of Wednesday, 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 Thursday.