Daily new Covid-19 cases in Singapore at 8,940

[SINGAPORE] Daily new Covid-19 infections reported in Singapore fell on Wednesday (Mar 23) to 8,940 cases, down from the 13,166 reported on Tuesday.

The number of patients hospitalised fell to 951 cases on Wednesday, from 1,023 on Tuesday. The last time Covid-19 cases in hospitals here was lower than 1,000 was on Feb 4.

There were 7,538 new cases on Monday.

The number of new cases is also lower compared with last Wednesday (Mar 16), when the Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded 11,278 new Covid-19 cases.

There were 6 deaths reported on Wednesday.

The Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate remained below one for the 22nd consecutive day at 0.76, though it was up slightly from 0.74 on Tuesday.

The rate refers to the ratio of community cases in the past week compared to the week before. A rate of more than one indicates the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is increasing.

There were 26 patients in the intensive care unit and 117 needed oxygen supplementation.

Of the local cases, 7,518 were detected through antigen rapid tests (ARTs), which means they were assessed by a doctor to have mild symptoms and of low risk.

Another 1,231 cases were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

There were 191 new imported cases, of which 18 were detected through PCR tests and 173 through ARTs.

The total number of deaths is now 1,220. The total number of cases recorded in Singapore stands at 1,044, 661.

The Republic crossed the one million mark for the total number of Covid-19 cases last Saturday.

About 95 per cent of the eligible population in Singapore have completed their full vaccination regimen, and 71 per cent of the total population have received a booster shot. THE STRAITS TIMES