Singapore's Covid-19 weekly infection rate lowest since last year

SINGAPORE - Daily Covid-19 cases in Singapore climbed back above 10,000 on Tuesday (March 15), 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.

But the Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate on Tuesday continued to fall to 0.8, down from 0.84 on Monday. This 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.

The number of new cases on Tuesday was also lower than last Tuesday's, when 21,983 cases were reported.

Tuesdays typically have the highest case numbers in the week.

Experts previously told The Straits Times that this was likely because clinics are usually shut over the weekend, causing people to delay their visits to the doctor until Monday. This means that their test results will be reported only on Tuesday.

There were also 1,311 hospitalisations as at noon on Tuesday. This is up from Monday's figure of 9,042 infections and 1,310 hospitalisations.

Six deaths were also announced on Tuesday, 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 (ARTs) 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 (PCR) tests.

ALSO READ: No changes to Covid-19 curbs for now given high number of daily local cases: MOH

There were 165 new imported cases, of which 35 were detected through PCR tests and 130 through ARTs.

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 in Singapore have completed their full vaccination regimen, and 70 per cent of the total population have received their booster shot.

See the full update from MOH here.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.