Singapore reports 552 new COVID-19 infections and 13 deaths; 1 more imported case tests positive for Omicron variant

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 552 new COVID-19 instances and 13 deaths linked to the coronavirus as of midday on Sunday (Dec 5).The Ministry of Health (MOH) additionally reported one more imported COVID-19 case who has examined "preliminarily positive" for the Omicron variant. (*1*) MOH stated. The 37-year-old Singapore everlasting resident is at present recovering in an isolation ward on the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). He arrived in Singapore from South Africa on board SQ479 on Dec 1, and was on the identical flight as Cases 271487 and 271958, MOH stated."His pre-departure take a look at in Johannesburg on Nov 29 was adverse for COVID-19 an infection. Upon arrival in Singapore, he was remoted at a stay-home discover (SHN) devoted facility, and his polymerase chain response (PCR) tests on Dec 1 and 3 got here again adverse."On Dec 4, he developed a fever and sore throat and was conveyed to NCID, where he tested preliminarily positive for the Omicron variant," MOH added. The National Public Health (*13*) is conducting complete genome sequencing to substantiate the variant.The fatalities had been aged between 52 and 96. All of them had numerous underlying medical situations. MOH didn't specify what these situations had been.This brings Singapore's loss of life toll from the coronavirus to 759.The general intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation price is 51.2 per cent, down from 54.7 per cent on Saturday.

WEEKLY INFECTION GROWTH RATE

The weekly an infection development price rose to 0.66 from Saturday's 0.63. This refers back to the ratio of group instances for the previous week over the week earlier than.The development price has remained beneath 1 since Nov 13. A determine beneath 1 signifies that the variety of new weekly COVID-19 instances is falling.The day by day case rely on Sunday is down from the 743 infections reported on Saturday. It can be the bottom since Sep 13.Among the new instances, 537 are regionally transmitted, comprising 523 infections in the neighborhood and 14 instances in migrant staff' dormitories.The remaining 15 are imported instances, MOH stated in its day by day replace launched to the media at about 11.20pm. As of Sunday, Singapore has reported 269,211 COVID-19 instances for the reason that begin of the pandemic.