Singapore reports 18,049 new Covid-19 cases and 7 deaths on Friday

[SINGAPORE] A total of 18,049 Covid-19 cases were reported on Friday (Feb 18) by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update.

This was 496 cases fewer than the 18,545 that had been reported on Thursday.

The number of patients hospitalised decreased slightly to 1,458, from 1,472 the day before.

For the 14th successive day, hospitalisation numbers have exceeded the 1,000 mark.

There were 39 patients in the intensive care unit, up from 32 on Thursday. A total of 182 patients required oxygen support, up from 164 on Thursday.

There were 7 deaths reported on Friday.

Of the 17,886 local cases recorded on Friday, 14,952 were detected through antigen rapid tests (ART), which means the patients displayed no symptoms or their symptoms were mild.

Another 2,934 cases were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.

There were also 208 new imported cases, with 145 detected through PCR tests and 63 through ART.

The weekly Covid-19 infection growth rate stood at 1.46, up from 1.28 the day before.

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

As at Friday, Singapore has recorded a total of 551,519 Covid-19 cases, with 937 deaths.

About 94 per cent of the eligible population have completed the full vaccination regimen, and 65 per cent have received the vaccine booster shot. THE STRAITS TIMES