SINGAPORE, Nov 6 — Singapore yesterday logged 1,767 new cases of Covid-19 and nine more deaths due to complications from the disease.

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, the Singapore Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the fall in cases was likely due to fewer swabs being done over the Deepavali public holiday on Thusrday at clinics and polyclinics. 

The last time the daily tally had gone below 2,000 was on Sept 27, when 1,647 new cases were recorded.

Yesterday, Singapore MOH reported that there were 70 patients who were unstable and under close monitoring in intensive care units (ICUs) to prevent further deterioration, up from the 66 reported the day before.

In addition, there were 70 patients who were critically ill and intubated in ICUs, two fewer than on Thursday.

The number of patients who require oxygen support went down from 286 on Thursday to 282 on Friday.

In total, there are 411 ICU beds, of which 282 are now occupied — 140 by Covid-19 patients.

This puts the ICU utilisation rate at 68.6 per cent, lower than the 70.2 per cent reported a day before.

Singapore MOH stressed that people aged 60 and above continue to be "more adversely affected by Covid-19”, especially if they are not vaccinated.

Among the new infections recorded on Friday, 1,639 were in the community, 120 were made up of migrant worker dormitory residents and the remaining eight were imported.

There were 284 people above the age of 60 among the community cases.

The ratio of community cases in the past week compared with the week before stood at 0.81, down from the 0.93 reported the day before. This is the third consecutive day where the weekly infection growth rate is under 1. 

The nine who died were aged between 67 and 85.

"All of them had various underlying medical conditions,” the ministry said without giving more details.

In total, 468 people here have died of Covid-19 complications.

Singapore has registered a total of 212,745 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

Local situation

A total of 3,657 recovered patients were discharged on Friday, including 528 aged 60 and above.

There are still, however, 1,669 patients who remain warded in the hospitals, 14 fewer than on Thursday. 

Over the last 28 days, the proportion of local cases who had mild or no symptoms was 98.7 per cent, Singapore MOH said. During the same period: