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Singapore's ICU utilization rate nearing 80 percent as COVID-19 surges
A recent spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening. The city-state extended its social curbs last week to contain the spread of COVID-19 for around a month in order to ease the pressure on the healthcare system.
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A Covid-19 coronavirus contact tracing sign is pictured as people walk out during lunch break at the Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on September 14, 2021. (AFP/Roslan Rahman)
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span class="highlight" data-qa-component="highlight-text">Singapore's health ministry reported 5,324 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic, while it recorded 10 new deaths from the disease.
A recent spike in infections after the relaxation of some restrictions has prompted Singapore to pause further reopening. The city-state extended its social curbs last week to contain the spread of COVID-19 for around a month in order to ease the pressure on the healthcare system.
Ten new deaths on Wednesday carried the toll to 349, after 3,277 infections the previous day, while the ICU utilisation rate is nearing 80 percent, despite a population that is 84 percent fully vaccinated, with 14 percent receiving booster doses.
Responding to the surge, Singapore is looking into an "unusual surge", the city-state's health ministry said, as beds in intensive care units fill up.
"The infection numbers are unusually high today, mostly due to many COVID-positive cases detected by the testing laboratories within a few hours in the afternoon," the health ministry said in a statement.
"The Ministry of Health is looking into this unusual surge in cases within a relatively short window, and closely monitoring the trends for the next few days," it added in Wednesday's statement.
While nearly 98.7 percent of the past month's 90,203 cases had no symptoms, or only mild ones, about 0.2 percent of those had died, and 0.1 percent each were being monitored closely in intensive care units (ICU) or were critically ill and intubated there.
About 72 ICU beds were vacant by Wednesday, at an overall ICU use rate of 79.8 percent, with 142 coronavirus sufferers accounting for about half of occupied beds.
The ministry said it was adding more ICU beds. The Asian city-state, which has set aside 200 ICU beds to be used by COVID-19 patients, can add 100 more at short notice.
Last week, it extended some social curbs for about a month, to rein in the spread of COVID-19 and ease pressure on healthcare facilities.
Authorities reinstated curbs limiting social interactions and dining out to two people, so as to slow infections.
