Singapore — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has added two new charts to its daily Covid-19 update to better explain the virus infection situation in the country.
One of the charts reflects the number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds are occupied, and another shows the ratio of community cases in the past week compared to the week before.
The ICU chart highlights the number of patients critically ill in the ICU and requiring ventilators, patients who are unstable and need monitoring or oxygen support, non-Covid-19 cases and the number of empty ICU beds.
The addition would give a clearer representation of the situation in hospitals, especially in the ICUs, noted Professor Teo Yik Ying, dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, to Straits Times.
“Given that every patient in the ICU has a real risk of experiencing severe symptoms that may result in death, we want to prevent as many cases in the ICU as possible… However, if we have already utilised in excess of two-thirds of the ICU beds, it is already pointing to a trajectory that our healthcare system is under pressure,” he added.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced on Oct 20 that the spike in Covid-19 cases had placed a strain on public hospitals.
About 89 per cent of the 1,650 isolation beds and 67 per cent of the ICU beds are occupied.
Meanwhile, the chart showing two sets of numbers comparing community cases at different periods is better than focusing on daily case numbers, said Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
“If you look at the daily case numbers, there’s a weekly pattern. It’s especially obvious on Tuesdays, which will see a higher case number as the results come in for people who went to a clinic on a Monday,” said Assoc Prof Cook.
“The number of people going to a clinic on Monday is probably higher because clinics are usually shut over the weekend, so people delay the visit to a doctor till Monday,” he noted.
On Sunday (Oct 24), MOH reported 3,383 new cases of Covid-19, comprising 2,708 community cases, 667 dormitory resident cases and eight imported cases.
There were 15 more cases that have passed away from Covid-19 complications, of which eight were male Singaporeans and seven female Singaporeans aged between 58 and 100 years.
Amongst them, eight had been unvaccinated against Covid-19, one had been partially vaccinated, and six fully vaccinated.
MOH noted that all the cases had various underlying medical conditions.
The percentage of the population that has completed their full vaccination regimen remains at 84 per cent, while 85 per cent has received at least one dose. /TISG
Read related: Restrict locals, give freedom to foreigners – netizens on opening up borders on Southeast Asian countries