SINGAPORE — The number of new Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals jumped to 965 in the past week, up from 763 the week before that, with those admitted to intensive care units (ICU) going up from 23 to 32 in the same period.  

These were the highest numbers of new weekly hospitalisation and ICU admission for Covid-19 patients so far this year. 

By comparison, the weekly hospitalisation number for the week before last was 460, while that for new ICU admissions was nine.

The estimated number of infection cases for the week of Dec 10 to 16 was also the highest recorded for the year by far, with 58,300 cases for epi week 50, up from the previous record of 56,043 cases in the preceding week.

An epidemiological week, or epi week, is a schedule of counting weeks to compare data over a duration of time.

These latest figures were published on the Ministry of Health's website on Thursday (Dec 21) evening.   

The figures showed that the estimated daily number of cases on a seven-day moving average had been dropping in recent days, decreasing from 7,730 on Dec 17 to 6,820 the following day and then 6,530 cases on Dec 19. 

A seven-day moving average of daily estimated Covid-19 numbers is meant to be more indicative of infection trends, smoothing out daily fluctuations by calculating the average of cases over the past week.

MOH said on its website: "Healthcare utilisation indicators such as hospitalised and ICU cases typically lag behind the estimated weekly number of infections.

"This is due to the time taken for symptoms to develop in Covid-19 patients." 

With a surge in the coronavirus infections here, MOH last week strongly urged the public to wear a mask in crowded places even if they are not sick, as it announced the building of a second Covid-19 treatment facility located at Singapore Expo Hall 10 in Changi. 

It also announced that starting Dec 19, it will be giving daily updates on Covid-19 cases on its website to provide the latest information during this wave of infections.

MOH's figures on Thursday also showed that the average daily hospitalised cases recorded were also the highest so far this year. The 560 cases were up from 350 cases the earlier week and 225 the week before that.

This was the same for the average daily ICU cases, which rose to 13 cases from nine the previous week and four a fortnight ago.

Most of the Covid-19 patients here have been infected by JN.1, a sublineage of the coronavirus' Omicron subvariant BA.2.86. 

Based on the available international and domestic data, there is no clear indication now that BA.2.86 or JN.1 are more easily spread or cause more severe disease than other circulating variants, MOH said last week. 

To preserve Singapore’s healthcare capacity, the ministry has been working with public hospitals for contingency planning.

This includes ensuring that there is adequate manpower and deferring non-urgent electives (scheduled medical treatments or appointments) to maximise bed capacity for urgent cases in need of acute care. 

Experts have told TODAY that with the new JN.1 variant, winter conditions in the northern hemisphere and more people choosing not to wear masks have fuelled the increase in Covid-19 cases.