There were a total of 965 new Covid-19 patients admitted to hospitals and 32 warded in intensive care units (ICU) in Singapore in the past week, marking the highest numbers of new weekly hospitalisation and ICU admission in 2023.

There were 763 hospitalisations and 23 ICU cases the previous week, data released on the Ministry of Health's website on Thursday, Dec. 21 showed.

The data also showed the majority of those hospitalised are 60 years old and above.

For the week before last, there were 460 hospitalisations and only nine ICU admissions.

The estimated number of Covid-19 infection cases for the Dec. 10 to 16 week was the highest in 2023 at 58,300 cases.

The preceding week saw 56,043 cases.

MOH data also showed that the average daily hospitalised cases recorded are the highest for the year, hitting 560 cases.

This was up from 350 cases the previous week and 225 the week before that.

The average daily ICU cases has risen to 13 cases.

There were nine the previous week and four two weeks ago.

However, the seven-day moving average estimated daily number of cases has been decreasing, from 7,730 on Dec. 17 to 6,820 on Dec. 18, and then 6,530 on Dec. 19.

"Healthcare utilisation indicators such as hospitalised and ICU cases typically lag behind the estimated weekly number of infections," MOH said on its website, noting that this was due to "the time taken for symptoms to develop in Covid-19 patients".

A week before this new record, MOH strongly urged the public to wear a mask in crowded places.

MOH also said it will be giving daily updates on Covid-19 cases on its website starting Dec. 19.

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

MOH said a week ago that 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.

Top photo via MOH