Singapore reports 370 new Covid-19 cases and five deaths on Sunday (Dec 13); lowest number of new infections since Sept 8

Singapore reported 370 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday (Dec 12, 2021), bringing the total tally in the country to 273,362. - The Straits Times/ANN

SINGAPORE, Dec. 12 (Xinhua): Singapore reported 370 new cases of Covid-19 on Sunday, bringing the total tally in the country to 273,362.

Of the new cases, 355 were in the community, four were in migrant worker dormitories and 11 were imported cases, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

A total of 592 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 30 cases being critically ill in the intensive care unit (ICU).

The current overall ICU utilization rate is 46.9 percent.

Five more patients have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 794.

The number of new infections reported on Sunday is the lowest since Sep 8, when 349 Covid-19 cases were reported.

Sunday's daily case count is also down from the 559 infections reported on Saturday (Dec 11).

The weekly infection growth rate fell to 0.61 from Saturday's 0.62. This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

The growth rate has remained below 1 since Nov 13. A figure below 1 means that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is falling.

Meanwhile, the Straits Times reported that experts say Singapore should be on track to further ease Covid-19 measures soon, given the current situation and how things have developed over the past three weeks.

They added that while it is still too early to tell the impact of the Omicron variant, there have been some encouraging early signs.

A report by the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health on Friday (Dec 10) said the characterisation of Omicron is still "very uncertain" and emphasised that there may be significant changes in the understanding of the virus strain over the next few weeks.

But it noted that the variant will likely spread more easily than the original version of the virus.

The report cited data suggesting that the proportion of Omicron cases developing severe disease is lower than with the Delta variant.