Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations are affecting and overburdening Singapore’s hospitals, the Ministry of Health warned on Friday.
Although the Ministry of Health has issued the alert, it has also assured the population that the numbers are not as high as the pandemic and that the circulating variants are not known to cause more serious illnesses.
In the week ended on December 2, as many as 32,035 people were diagnosed with COVID-19 – the highest number of infections recorded this year, according to a report by The Straits Times newspaper.
The previous high was 28,410 infections a week in March, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
The latest figure is 10,000 more than the 22,094 diagnosed last week. The number of weekly infections has hovered around 15,000 infections in the past two to three months.
According to the press release, the number of people hospitalized and requiring intensive care has also increased.
An MOH statement on December 8 said the average daily COVID-19 hospitalisations rose to 225 from 136 the week before, and the average daily intensive care unit (ICU) cases increased to four compared with one case in the previous week.
He said: “This has added an additional workload to our hospitals, which are already busy. Nine other people with severe Covid-19 illnesses were admitted to an intensive care hospital in the week of November 26 to December 2, up from 4 last week. week.
But as hospitalisation and the need for intensive care treatment usually lag behind infections, the numbers could go up in the coming weeks, it said.
During the COVID-19 wave in March and April 2023, ICU weekly admissions for this infection hit a high of 16 about three weeks after infections peaked, according to the report.
The wave caused 54 deaths from Covid-19 in April and March.
The ministry said the rise in cases “could be due to several factors, including waning population immunity and increased travel and community interactions during the year-end travel and festive season”.
The ministry suggested the public stay up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, especially the elderly and those who are medically vulnerable.
Infected people should exercise social responsibility and stay home if unwell. They should also wear a mask in crowded, not well-ventilated places, it said.
He also asked others to “seek medical attention in a hospital emergency room only in the event of a serious or life-threatening emergency. “
This aims to “preserve our hospital capacity for patients who truly want acute hospital care and allow those with serious illnesses to get timely treatment,” the ministry said.
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