Covid-19 ICU cases down by half, total daily cases lowest in 3 months
Some 43.8 per cent of ICU beds were being used as of Dec 19, with seven patients requiring close monitoring.
PHOTO: The Straits Times file
PUBLISHED ONDecember 20, 2021 4:21 AMByCheryl Tan
SINGAPORE - The number of critically ill Covid-19 patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) has more than halved since the beginning of the month, from 61 as at Dec 1 to 29 on Sunday (Dec 19).
About 43.8 per cent of ICU beds were being used as at Sunday, with seven patients requiring close monitoring.
Similarly, those requiring oxygen supplementation has gradually fallen from 206 cases as at Dec 1 to 62 cases on Sunday.
Local cases have been on a downward trajectory, as Singapore emerges from a significant wave of Delta transmission that peaked at the end of October.
Cases have since been stabilising, with the weekly infection growth rate — measured as the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before — remaining below one since Nov 13.
As at Sunday, the weekly infection growth rate was 0.56. The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 is now at 496, down from 771 at the beginning of the month.
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Three people died from Covid-19 complications on Sunday, bringing the current death toll to 813.
The number of daily Covid-19 cases fell to 255 on Sunday, the lowest in more than three months. Daily cases at the beginning of the month stood at 1,311.
In contrast, the number of imported cases has been edging up, with 44 imported cases on Saturday and 67 on Sunday.
So far, there have been 26 confirmed cases of the much-mutated Omicron variant in Singapore, including two that were detected on Saturday. Of the cases, 23 were imported while three were from local transmissions.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday that the Omicron coronavirus variant has been reported in 89 countries so far, with the number of cases doubling in one and a half to three days in areas with community transmission.
In addition, it added that the variant is spreading rapidly in countries with high levels of population immunity, but it is unclear if this is due to the virus' ability to evade immunity, its inherent increased transmissibility or a combination of both, it added.
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