1,448 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, infection growth rate rises to 1.76

[SINGAPORE] There were 1,448 new Covid-19 cases as at noon on Tuesday (Jan 18), said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update.

This is an increase from the 1,165 new cases reported on Monday, which was the first time Singapore reported over 1,000 new local coronavirus cases since Dec 2.

The new Covid-19 cases consist of 990 local cases and 458 imported ones.

A total of 589 cases of the Omicron variant were reported, down from 609. Of these, 504 were local cases and 85 were imported.

The weekly infection growth rate rose to 1.76 on Tuesday, up from 1.6 the day before.

The weekly infection growth rate refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week, over the week before. A figure of more than one shows that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is increasing.

There were no new deaths from complications linked to Covid-19 reported on Tuesday. The total number of fatalities in Singapore at 843.

As at Tuesday, Singapore has recorded a total of 294,462 Covid-19 cases.

There were 247 patients in hospital, with 16 requiring oxygen supplementation and 13 in the intensive care unit.

Ninety-one per cent of Singapore's eligible population have completed the full vaccination regimen, and 53 per cent of the population have received the vaccine booster shot.

THE STRAITS TIMES