TB cases in Singapore down in 2025 with 11 deaths and over 1,000 new active cases logged

SINGAPORE – Eleven people died from tuberculosis (TB) in 2025, and there were just over 1,000 new active cases among Singapore residents that year, a small drop from the year before.

In 2024, 20 people died from TB. That year, there were 1.23 million TB deaths worldwide, with more than 10.7 million cases of active TB cases.

In 2025, Singapore recorded 1,019 new active TB cases, compared with 1,156 cases in 2024, said the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) in a statement on March 23.

In 2025, there were 24.2 cases for every 100,000 people, compared with 27.6 cases for every 100,000 people in 2024, CDA added. Those in older age groups and males continue to make up a significant proportion of new active TB cases.

The numbers were made public by CDA ahead of World Tuberculosis Day on March 24.

TB – an airborne bacterial disease that commonly attacks the lungs – is curable and preventable.

Of the 1,019 new cases reported in 2025, 788 people, or 77.3 per cent, were aged 50 or older. There was also one new case of multi-drug-resistant TB in 2025.

Men made up 668 cases or 65.6 per cent of the total, while 351 cases, or 34.4 per cent, were women. There were 72 relapse cases in 2025, comprising 56 men and 16 women.

Although the disease is endemic in Singapore and the frequency of active TB cases has fallen in recent years, latent infection is still present in the population and serves as a reservoir for future disease, CDA said.

This means people are not infectious and show no symptoms but are still carrying TB bacteria. However, the bacteria can reactivate later in life – especially when the immune system is weakened – causing active TB, it added.

Although the prevalence of latent TB infection has been falling since 2015, up to 20 per cent of people aged 70 or older in Singapore have latent TB infection.

Contact tracing and the screening of close contacts – compulsory since July 2024 – have been carried out to ensure early detection and treatment to prevent the spread of the disease.

Anyone diagnosed with active TB will be placed on medical leave and immediately treated.

The full course of treatment takes about six to nine months, CDA said. It can be longer for people who have drug-resistant TB.

Once treated, the patient rapidly becomes non-infectious and no longer poses a transmission risk to others.

Patients who do not adhere strictly to the prescribed treatment have a higher chance of recurrence and developing multi-drug-resistant TB.

Patients who undergo directly observed treatment (DOT) – an important component of Singapore’s TB control efforts available at all polyclinics – will be given medicine under the supervision of a healthcare worker to ensure treatment adherence.

In addition, video-observed therapy (VOT) – an alternative to DOT – has been introduced in phases to suitable patients since 2020.

CDA said it would adopt from 2026 a more individualised TB care approach to cater to each patient’s needs and ensure that the patient sticks to the treatment.

It added that patients who have followed the treatment can move on to VOT, or reduced frequency of DOT.

CDA said: “Treatment adherence and completion will not only benefit persons diagnosed with TB, but also protect their family, workplace and community from infection.”

People who are unwell and show TB symptoms, such as prolonged coughing, should seek medical attention early, CDA said. Those who have been identified as contacts should go for screening.

CDA said that of the 1,019 active TB cases in 2025 here, 694 are Chinese, 185 Malay, 85 Indian and 55 of other races.