Is the tide turning? Drop in Singapore's weekly Covid-19 infection growth rate for 5th straight day

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 2,553 new Covid-19 infections on Sunday (Nov 7), down from 3,035 a day earlier.

MOH also said that 17 people aged between 45 and 89 have died of complications linked to Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate dropped slightly to 0.81, down from 0.83 on Saturday.

This is the fifth day in a row that it has come in below one since the MOH started reporting the figure.

The infection rate refers to the ratio of community cases in the past week over the week before.

A weekly infection growth rate that is more than one shows that the number of weekly Covid-19 cases is still increasing.

The overall utilisation rate of the intensive care unit (ICU) also decreased on Sunday to 69.9 per cent - down from 72.8 per cent on Saturday, said MOH.

Of the 17 deaths reported on Sunday, all had various underlying conditions except an 85-year-old vaccinated person who had no known medical conditions, said MOH in its daily update, without giving further details.

The new deaths take Singapore's death toll to 497.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 218,333.

The new cases comprise 2,343 from the community, 205 from the migrant worker dormitories and five imported cases.

Amongst the community cases reported on Sunday are 425 seniors who are aged 60 years and above.

In an update on large clusters it is tracking, MOH said there are nine new cases linked to a cluster at Acacia Home - a welfare home in Admiralty. There are now 41 cases there, comprising two staff and 39 residents.

MOH also reported seven new cases linked to the cluster at the Institute of Mental Health for a total of 389 cases.

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Of the 389, 25 are staff while 364 are patients there.

Seven new cases were also reported at the Methodist Welfare Services Nursing Home - Yew Tee for a total of 10. All of them are residents.

As for the other five clusters under monitoring, Jenaris Home @ Pelangi Village and Surya Home, both in Buangkok, reported two new cases each.

NTUC Health Nursing Home in Geylang, Jamiyah Home for the Aged in Tampines and PCF Sparkletots @ Whampoa Block 85 all reported one new case each.

MOH also said there are 1,654 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, and 296 patients that require oxygen support in general hospital wards.

Another 70 are unstable and being closely monitored in the ICU, while another 64 are critically ill and intubated in the ICU.

This means that 134 of the total of 405 ICU beds are currently occupied by Covid-19 patients.

Another 149 are occupied by those with non-Covid-19 conditions and 122 beds are empty.

Read the full MOH press release here.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission for reproduction.