Singapore reports 13,158 new Covid-19 cases with 1,437 patients hospitalised

[SINGAPORE] The total number of daily Covid-19 cases and those in hospital continued to fall on Sunday (Mar 6), with 13,158 total cases and 1,437 people hospitalised.

This is down from 16,274 infections and 1,559 hospitalisations a day earlier.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate remained below one at 0.95, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its nightly update.

It was the 5th day in a row that the weekly infection rate had dipped under one since Jan 3. The rate was also 0.95 on Saturday.

The rate refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before. A rate of more than 1 indicates that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is increasing.

Last Friday, MOH noted how the fall in the weekly infection growth rate suggests that the Republic's current epidemic wave might have peaked.

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MOH said it will continue to monitor the situation closely with the hope that safe management measures can soon be streamlined and eased.

The streamlining of measures was announced on Feb 16, and was initially supposed to take place from Feb 25.

The new measures included allowing groups of 5 to visit homes at any one time, and social gatherings of up to 5 people at workplaces.

However, the implementation date for these measures was revised due to the surge in daily Covid-19 cases.

Five deaths were reported on Sunday, down from 6 the day before.

On Sunday, there were 47 patients in the intensive care units, down from the 48 the previous day, while 190 patients required oxygen support.

Of the local cases reported on Sunday, 11,408 were detected through antigen rapid tests (ARTs), and were assessed by a doctor to have mild symptoms and be of low risk.

Another 1,610 cases were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

There were 140 new imported cases, of which 55 were detected through PCR tests and 85 through ARTs.

As at Sunday, Singapore has recorded a total of 832,821 Covid-19 cases, with 1,078 deaths.

About 95 per cent of the eligible population have completed the full vaccination regimen, and 69 per cent of the total population have received a booster shot. THE STRAITS TIMES