Singapore reported 965 COVID-19 cases in past week

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The number of fresh COVID-19 cases in Singapore jumped to 965 in the past week, up from 763 the previous week. The number of patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) went up from 23 to 32 in the same period. These are the highest numbers of new weekly hospitalisation and ICU admission for COVID-19 patients in 2023, TODAY newspaper reported on Thursday.

Most COVID-19 patients here are infected by JN.1, a sublineage of the coronavirus' Omicron subvariant BA.2.86. With the JN.1 variant, winter conditions in the northern hemisphere and more people choosing not to wear masks have fueled the increase in COVID-19 cases, TODAY, citing experts, reported. Based on the available international and domestic data, there is no clear indication now that BA.2.86 or JN.1 are more transmissible or cause more severe disease than other circulating variants, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The estimated number of COVID-19 cases from December 10 to 16 was also the highest recorded for the year, with 58,300 cases for epi-week 50, up from the previous record of 56,043 cases in the preceding week. The MOH's published figures show that the seven-day moving average estimated daily number of cases has been dropping in recent days, decreasing from 7,730 on December 17 to 6,820 the following day and then 6,530 cases on December 19.

'Healthcare utilisation indicators such as hospitalised and ICU cases typically lag behind the estimated weekly number of infections," the MOH on its website said. "This is due to the time taken for symptoms to develop in COVID-19 patients." The MOH's figures on Thursday also show that the average daily hospitalised cases recorded are also the highest for the year. The 560 cases are up from 350 cases the previous week and 225 the week before that.

The same goes for the average daily ICU cases, which rose to 13 cases from nine the previous week and four two weeks ago. To preserve Singapore's healthcare capacity, the ministry has been working with public hospitals for contingency planning. This includes ensuring adequate manpower and deferring of non-urgent electives (scheduled medical treatments or appointments) to maximise bed capacity for urgent cases in need of acute care.

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