Singapore reports 1,670 new COVID-19 cases and 8 more deaths; ICU utilisation rate falls to 52.9%

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 1,670 new COVID-19 cases and eight more deaths linked to the coronavirus as of noon on Sunday (Nov 21).

The fatalities were aged between 63 and 95. All of them had various underlying medical conditions. The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not specify what those medical conditions were.

Singapore's death toll from the coronavirus now stands at 662. 

The overall intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate is at 52.9 per cent - the lowest since MOH started releasing this data about a month ago. 

WEEKLY INFECTION GROWTH RATE

The weekly infection growth rate rose slightly to 0.81 from Saturday's 0.78. 

The figure refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before. It has stayed below 1 for nine consecutive days.

The daily case count on Sunday is down from the 1,931 infections reported on Saturday. It is also the lowest since Sep 27.

Among the new cases, 1,657 are locally transmitted, comprising 1,577 infections in the community and 80 cases in migrant workers' dormitories.

The remaining 13 are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to the media at about 11.05pm. 

As of Sunday, Singapore has reported 252,188 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS

A total of 1,362 cases are warded in hospital, said MOH.

Among them, 186 require oxygen supplementation in general wards, 44 patients are unstable and under close monitoring in the ICU, and 60 are critically ill and intubated.

A total of 2,640 cases were discharged over the past day, of whom 448 are seniors aged 60 and above. 

As of Saturday, 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.

Twenty-three per cent have received their booster shots. 

Of the 79,364 COVID-19 cases over the last 28 days, 98.8 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" three large clusters. 

The cluster at Jenaris Home @ Pelangi Village added 12 cases on Sunday, taking its total to 86. 

Three new cases were detected at Sunlove Senior Care Centre @ 70 Buangkok View. A total of 18 infections have been linked to that cluster. 

The third cluster is at Pacific Healthcare Nursing Home at Lengkok Bahru, which has a total of 15 infections. 

EASING OF RESTRICTIONS FROM MONDAY

Fully vaccinated people, including those from different households, will be able to dine together in groups of five when restrictions are eased on Monday. The limit on social gatherings and household visitors will also be raised from two to five people.

Visits to hospitals and residential care homes will also resume on Monday with "enhanced" vaccine-differentiated measures - both the hospital patient or care home resident and their visitors must be fully vaccinated.