Singapore reports 22,201 new COVID-19 cases, 15 deaths

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 22,201 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Tuesday (Mar 8), comprising 21,986 local cases and 215 imported infections.

This is the sixth consecutive Tuesday that case numbers have gone up from the day before. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had previously referred to such a pattern, writing on Facebook in October 2021 that numbers would "always spike after the weekends".

There were 15 fatalities reported on Tuesday, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,099.

There are 1,499 patients in hospital, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website. A total of 190 patients require oxygen supplementation.

Forty-nine patients are in the intensive care unit, compared to 54 on Monday.

Most of Singapore's new COVID-19 infections are Protocol 2 cases, which are those who are well or assessed to have a mild condition.

Among the cases reported on Tuesday, 19,451 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 19,294 local cases and 157 imported infections.

Another 2,750 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 58 of them being imported infections. 

Tuesday's caseload is the highest since Mar 1. The weekly infection growth rate is 0.95, same as on Monday. A number below 1 indicates that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling.

Singapore has recorded 868,542 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

As of Monday, 95 per cent of Singapore's eligible population have completed their full vaccination regimen under the national vaccination programme.

About 69 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine booster shots.