Singapore confirms 1,324 new COVID cases, 8 more deaths

Staff Writer
·Editorial team
·3 min read
Travellers wait in line to check in at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) under the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) programme, after travel between the two countries was halted due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Sepang, Malaysia November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Lai Seng Sin REFILE - Additional caption information
Travellers wait in line to check-in at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport under the Malaysia-Singapore VTL programme on 29 November, 2021. (PHOTO: Reuters)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (1 December) confirmed 1,324 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore – bringing the country's total case count to 266,049 – as well as eight deaths due to the disease.

Wednesday marks the seventh day in a row with less than 2,000 cases reported in the city-state.

It also marks the 73rd day in a row with fatalities from COVID-19 reported in Singapore, with 308 people having succumbed to it last month. Three died on Wednesday.

The 719th to 726th fatalities here were aged between 59 and 86. All, except for an unvaccinated case, had various underlying medical conditions.

Of the new cases, 1,311 are local – 1,266 are in the community and 45 are residents of migrant worker dormitories. The remaining 13 are imported. In the community are 200 cases who are aged 60 years and above, said the MOH.

The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before – or the weekly infection growth rate – is 0.67, up from Tuesday's 0.66. This is the 19th day in a row where the figure is lower than 1.

206 require oxygen supplementation; 77 in ICU

A total of 1,535 cases were discharged on Wednesday, of whom 289 are patients aged 60 and above, said the MOH.

Currently, 1,054 cases are warded in hospital. Over the last 28 days, of the 57,844 infected individuals, 98.6 per cent had no or mild symptoms.

There are currently 206 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation.

A total of 77 cases are in the intensive care unit (ICU) – 16 are unstable and under close monitoring to prevent further deterioration, while 61 are critically ill and intubated.

The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 59.7 per cent, up from Tuesday's 58.5 per cent.

The MOH noted that over the past seven days, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who are critically ill in the ICU are at 0.5 and 4.3 per 100,000 population, respectively.

Over the same period, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who died are 0.1 and 0.5 per 100,000 population, respectively, it added.

Among those aged 60 and above, the number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated cases who are critically ill in the ICU are 1.9 and 38.5, respectively. The number of fully vaccinated and non-fully vaccinated seniors who died are 0.3 and 4.9, respectively, said the MOH.

Apart from the 726 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

As of Tuesday, the total number of individuals who have completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines is 96 per cent of the eligible population.

Among the total population, 87 per cent have done so, while 87 per cent has received at least one dose, and 27 per cent has received their booster shots.

Authorities said on Tuesday that the number of unvaccinated people aged 60 years and above has dropped from 57,769 to 43,611 with the adjustment of Singapore's population base.

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