Case numbers on Tuesdays tend to be higher as they reflect the spike in infections after the weekend. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): There were 7,109 new Covid-19 cases recorded in Singapore on Tuesday (June 21), more than double the 3,220 cases on Monday.
The number of new cases is more than last Tuesday's figure, which stood at 5,130.
Case numbers on Tuesdays tend to be higher compared with the rest of the week as they reflect the spike in infections after the weekend, when more people are out in various social settings.
The week-on-week infection ratio rose slightly to 1.23 on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported in an update on its website, up from 1.17 on Monday.
Last Tuesday's ratio was 1.01.
The rate refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over that of the week before. A rate of more than 1 shows the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is increasing.
MOH said there were 326 patients hospitalised, with nine in intensive care and 27 requiring oxygen support.
There were no deaths reported.
Of the new local Covid-19 cases, 452 were detected through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
Another 5,941 were detected through antigen rapid tests (ART), which means they either had no symptoms or their symptoms were mild.
There were 716 new imported cases, with 50 detected through PCR tests and 666 through ART.
Singapore has recorded a total of 1,378,090 Covid-19 cases, and 1,405 deaths.
MOH said on Tuesday the country had witnessed a 23 per cent week-on-week increase in community infections, with the rise largely driven by an increased spread of the newer Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had warned that the next Covid-19 wave could hit Singapore in July or August.
This wave would be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of the virus, Ong said, based on what was happening in other parts of the world like the United States and South Africa.
