552 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore; 1 imported case 'preliminarily positive' for Omicron

[SINGAPORE] There were 552 new Covid-19 infections in Singapore on Sunday (Dec 5), down from 743 on Saturday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

This is the third day in a row where new virus cases fall below 1,000.

Among the cases is a new imported Covid-19 case who has tested preliminarily positive for the Omicron variant.

The 37-year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident arrived in Singapore from South Africa on Dec 1 and was on the same flight as 2 previous Omicron cases. He is fully vaccinated and has mild symptoms. He had not interacted in the community and there is currently no evidence of any community transmission from the case, said MOH.

The ministry had last Thursday reported that 2 passengers who arrived in Singapore from South Africa on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight had tested preliminarily positive for the Omicron variant.

In Sunday's update, MOH said the intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate was at 51.2 per cent, down from 54.7 per cent on Saturday.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate was at 0.66, up from 0.63 on Saturday.

This is the 23rd day in a row that the growth rate has been below 1.

The number refers to the ratio of community cases in the past week over the week before. A weekly infection growth rate that is consistently below 1 shows that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is falling.

Thirteen people aged between 52 and 96 died of complications linked to Covid-19, said MOH.

All had various underlying medical conditions, the ministry added, without giving further details.

The latest deaths take the total number of Covid-19 fatalities in Singapore to 759.

The new infections comprised 523 cases in the community, 14 in migrant worker dormitories and 15 imported cases.

The total number of cases in Singapore now stands at 269,211.

Over the last 28 days, 98.7 per cent of local Covid-19 cases were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, 0.8 per cent required oxygen supplementation in a general ward, 0.2 per cent were in the ICU, and 0.2 per cent died.

As at Saturday, 87 per cent of the total population have either completed the full vaccination regimen or had 2 shots, and 28 per cent have taken booster shots.

THE STRAITS TIMES