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MOH to stop daily press release on Covid-19 situation from Dec 7; updates still available on website

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (Dec 6) said that it will stop issuing daily press releases on Covid-19 infection statistics from Tuesday onwards “as the current wave of Delta infections subsides”, though the public can continue to access the information on the ministry’s website.

MOH to stop daily press release on Covid-19 situation from Dec 7; updates still available on website
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  • MOH said it will cease issuing daily press release on Covid-19 infection statistics from Dec 7
  • The public can still access such information on the ministry’s website 
  • There were 662 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore on Dec 6
  • Four deaths were registered for the day, bringing the tally here to 763
  • The ratio of community cases in the past week compared with the week before is 0.64

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (Dec 6) said that it will stop issuing daily press releases on Covid-19 infection statistics from Tuesday onwards “as the current wave of Delta infections subsides”, though the public can continue to access the information on the ministry’s website.

These include information on the local Covid-19 situation, as well as hospital capacity, status of patients, as well as the vaccination progress and number of Covid-19 cases.

In its daily update on the coronavirus situation, MOH also said that Singapore recorded 662 new cases of Covid-19 and four more deaths due to complications from the disease.

The daily case count is higher than the 552 reported on Sunday.

In announcing its cessation of the issuance of the press release, MOH stressed that it will continue to update the public on significant developments, “including information on the Omicron variant” through regular media statements.

MOH also noted that one of the statistics being monitored is the week-on-week infection growth ratio.

“During the present wave of infection, we wanted to ensure that the ratio was below one before we eased any restrictions,” it said.

“As the present wave subsides and infection numbers start to stabilise, we can expect the ratio to trend towards one.”

It said that it will continue to monitor this indicator to get a sense of how quickly the virus is spreading in the community.

For instance, if the ratio were to rise rapidly beyond one on a sustained basis, then it would mean an acceleration in the spread of infection, and potentially the start of a new wave of transmission.

DAILY UPDATE

There were six patients who were unstable and under close monitoring in intensive care units (ICUs) to prevent further deterioration. This is the same number as that reported the day before.

In addition, there were 47 patients who were critically ill and intubated in ICUs — five fewer than on Sunday.

The number of patients who require oxygen support dipped from 155 on Sunday to 142 on Monday.

In total, there are 425 ICU beds, of which 204 are now occupied — 53 by Covid-19 patients.

The overall ICU utilisation rate stands at 48 per cent, down from 51.2 per cent on Sunday.

The ministry on Monday also confirmed that two previously announced imported cases of Covid-19 on Thursday have tested positive for the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

The two cases, MOH had previously said, had arrived in Singapore via a Singapore Airlines flight from Johannesburg.

MOH said that the National Public Health Laboratory has completed whole genome sequencing for the cases, and has confirmed that they are infected with the Omicron variant.

“Both are fully vaccinated, and have mild symptoms of cough and scratchy throat. They were isolated upon arrival in Singapore on Dec 1, and had not interacted in the community,” said MOH.

It stressed that people aged 60 and above continue to be more adversely affected by Covid-19, especially if they are not vaccinated.

Among the new infections recorded on Monday, 638 were in the community, 13 were residents of migrant worker dormitories and the remaining 11 were imported.

There were 106 people aged 60 and older among the day’s community cases.

The ratio of community cases in the past week, compared with the week before, stood at 0.64 — lower than the ratio of 0.66 reported on Sunday.

This is the 24th day in a row that the week-on-week infection ratio rate has been below 1.0.

The four patients who died were aged between 81 and 97.

“All of them had various underlying medical conditions,” MOH said.

LOCAL SITUATION

In total, 763 people have died of Covid-19 complications here.

Singapore has registered a total of 269,873 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

A total of 1,198 patients who have recovered from Covid-19 were discharged on Monday, including 182 aged 60 and above.

There are still, however, 850 patients who remain hospitalised — 13 fewer than on Sunday.

Over the last 28 days, the proportion of local coronavirus cases who had mild or no symptoms was 98.7 per cent, MOH said. In the same period:

  • 0.8 per cent of patients needed oxygen aid
  • 0.1 per cent were unstable and under close monitoring in intensive care
  • 0.1 per cent were critically ill and intubated in ICUs
  • 0.2 per cent died

The ministry added that it was closely tracking a coronavirus cluster at the THK Home for Disabled@Sembawang, which has four new cases, taking its total to 48.

Of the 48 cases, two are staff members while the rest are residents of the home.

VACCINATIONS

MOH said that as of Dec 5, 96 per cent of the eligible population have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Among the total population, 87 per cent have been fully vaccinated and 87 per cent have received at least one dose of a vaccine.

The ministry added that 28 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine boosters.

In the past seven days:

  • The number of fully vaccinated patients who were critically ill in ICU was at 0.5 per 100,000 people and, for non-fully vaccinated patients, it was 3.8
  • The number of fully vaccinated patients who died was 0.04 per 100,000 people and, for non-fully vaccinated patients, it was 0.6
  • For fully vaccinated patients aged 60 and above, the number who were critically ill under intensive care was 1.9 and, for those not fully vaccinated, it was 32.9
  • The number of fully vaccinated patients aged 60 and older who died was 0.2 and, for those not fully vaccinated, it was 6.3

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