15,851 new Covid-19 cases; weekly infection rate falls

Daily Covid-19 cases climbed back above 10,000 yesterday, with 15,851 new cases reported by the Ministry of Health.

Before this, the number of cases had been below 10,000 for two days in a row - the only two times so far this month.

However, the Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate yesterday continued to fall to 0.8, down from 0.84 on Monday. It is the lowest rate since Dec 30 last year, when it was 0.73.

This means the weekly infection rate has been below one for 14 consecutive days since March 2.

The rate refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before. A rate of more than one indicates the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is increasing.

There were 1,311 hospitalisations as at noon yesterday. This is up from 1,310 hospitalisations on Monday, which saw 9,042 infections.

Six deaths were announced, down from eight on Monday. There were also 40 patients in the intensive care unit and 191 who needed oxygen supplementation.

Of the local cases, 13,786 were detected through antigen rapid tests and were assessed by a doctor to have mild symptoms and to be of low risk. Another 1,900 cases were detected through polymerase chain reaction tests.

There were 165 new imported cases.

As at Monday, Singapore has recorded a total of 964,329 Covid-19 cases and 1,159 deaths.

About 95 per cent of the eligible population have completed their full vaccination regimen, and 70 per cent of the total population have received their booster shot.