Singapore reports 10,594 new COVID-19 cases, 9 deaths

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 10,594 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Friday (Mar 18), comprising 10,435 local cases and 159 imported infections.

There were nine fatalities reported on Friday, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,191.

There are 1,175 patients in hospital, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website. A total of 137 patients require oxygen supplementation.

Thirty patients are in the intensive care unit, compared to 29 on Thursday.

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 new cases reported on Friday, 8,624 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 8,518 local cases and 106 imported infections.

Another 1,970 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 53 of them being imported infections. 

The weekly infection growth rate was 0.70, lower than the 0.73 on Thursday. A number below 1 indicates that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling.

Singapore has recorded 996,914 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

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

About 70 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine booster shots.

Sources: cna