Singapore reports 18,162 new COVID-19 cases, 9 deaths

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 18,162 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Thursday (Mar 3), comprising 17,991 local and 171 imported infections.

There were nine fatalities, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,049.

There are 1,685 patients in hospital, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website. A total of 232 patients require oxygen supplementation.

Fifty-three patients are in the intensive care unit, compared to 51 on Wednesday.

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 Thursday, 15,669 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 15,575 local cases and 94 imported ones.

Another 2,493 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 77 of them being imported infections. 

The weekly infection growth rate remained unchanged at 0.98.

This is the second day in a row that the weekly infection growth rate is below 1. 

The weekly infection growth rate refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before. A number above 1 indicates that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is rising.

Singapore has recorded 785,825 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

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

About 68 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine booster shots.

More than 240,000 children aged between five and 11 have received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine as of Wednesday, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in a joint statement. 

More than 178,000 children have received their second dose. 

Giving an update on the school-facilitated vaccination exercise, authorities said 1,500 primary school students have opted in to be taken by bus from their schools to the paediatric vaccination centres for their jabs. 

With more children having taken their vaccinations, more paediatric vaccination centres will close in the coming weeks, said MOE and ECDA.

The one at Yusof Ishak Secondary School will cease operations from Apr 1, after the closure of two centres at Nanyang Community Club and Queenstown Community Club. 

The vaccination centre at Yusof Ishak Secondary School will continue to accept appointments up to Mar 31, but will no longer accommodate any walk-ins for the first dose appointments from Mar 10. 

There will still be 12 paediatric vaccination centres in operation across Singapore.