SINGAPORE, 29 June – Singapore reported 11,504 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Tuesday (Jun 28), comprising 10,732 local infections and 772 imported cases.
There was one fatality, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,410.
Cases tend to increase on Tuesdays, with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung previously referring to such a pattern, writing on Facebook in October 2021 that numbers would “always spike after the weekends”.
The last time Singapore reported more daily infections than Tuesday was on Mar 22, when 13,166 COVID-19 new cases were reported.
A total of 437 patients are in hospital, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) website on Tuesday night. Thirty-six patients require oxygen supplementation.
Nine patients are in the intensive care unit.
On Monday, MOH said about 45 per cent of COVID-19 cases in the community in the past week were those of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, up from 30 per cent in the week before.
The BA.5 subvariant alone is estimated to have contributed to 40 per cent of all COVID-19 cases in the past week.
However, international and local data show that the two sub variants do not result in more severe outcomes as compared to the earlier Omicron strains, said MOH on Monday.
“Coupled with our population’s high vaccination coverage, the number of severe COVID-19 infections has remained manageable,” said the Health Ministry.
Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also co-chair of the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force, said on Monday that there was no need to tighten COVID-19 safe management measures at this stage, but adjustments will be made “if need be”.
He said cases are expected to continue rising in the coming weeks, although the hospital situation remained stable.
Earlier this month, Mr Ong said that Singapore could expect a new Omicron wave to emerge in July or August, as COVID-19 antibodies start to wane.
Among the local cases reported on Tuesday, 9,989 cases are tested using antigen rapid tests (ARTs) and have been assessed by doctors to have mild symptoms and are of low risk, said MOH.
The remaining 743 local COVID-19 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests.
Of the imported cases, 748 were tested using ARTs and 24 using PCR tests. — CNA
