2 Covid-19 cases here infected with new sub-variant

Two imported Covid-19 cases here have been confirmed to be infected with a new Omicron sub-variant called BA.2.75 as at last Thursday.

Both individuals had recently travelled to India and immediately self-isolated after testing positive for Covid-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday in response to queries from The Sunday Times.

They have since fully recovered.

The emerging Omicron sub-variant was first detected in India in early May.

The BA.2.75 variant, nicknamed "Centaurus", has been detected in other countries such as the United States, Britain, Australia, Germany and Canada.

Scientists have reportedly said the BA.2.75 variant may be able to spread rapidly and get around immunity from vaccines and previous infection.

The BBC reported last Friday that it was not yet clear whether this sub-variant was one to worry about or not.

MOH said there is currently no evidence to indicate the sub-variant has substantially different virulence or severity compared with its Omicron predecessors.

The ministry noted that as at last Thursday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified BA.2.75 as an Omicron sub-variant under monitoring.

The Guardian newspaper reported that the WHO's chief scientist, Dr Soumya Swaminathan, said there were not yet enough samples to assess its severity.

In Singapore, as at noon yesterday, there were 9,153 new Covid-19 cases recorded, according to MOH's daily update. The week-on-week infection ratio is 1.03.

There were 771 patients hospitalised, with 17 in intensive care and 98 requiring oxygen support.

There were three deaths reported.

Of the new local cases, 762 were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

Another 7,929 were detected through antigen rapid tests (ART), which means that they had no symptoms or their symptoms were mild.

There were 462 new imported cases, with 45 detected through PCR tests and 417 through ART.

Singapore has recorded a total of 1,589,099 Covid-19 cases and 1,450 deaths.