5,554 new COVID-19 cases, 3 deaths reported in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 5,554 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Friday (Jan 28), comprising 5,272 local and 282 imported infections. 

There were three fatalities, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website. The death toll from coronavirus complications is 853.

The weekly infection growth rate is 2.24, down from Thursday's 2.37.

Under MOH's new approach of presenting infection numbers, the daily case count includes the number of Protocol 2 cases - those who are well or assessed to have a mild condition.

Among the cases reported on Friday, 3,667 are Protocol 2 infections, comprising 21 imported cases and 3,646 local ones.

Another 1,887 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests -  261 of them imported and 1,626 local infections.

As of Friday, Singapore has recorded 338,625 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. The figure is backdated to Jan 6 when general practitioners started to order Protocol 2.

HOSPITALISATIONS AND VACCINATIONS

There are 636 patients in hospital, with 46 requiring oxygen supplementation. Ten patients are in the intensive care unit.

As of Thursday, 92 per cent of Singapore's eligible population have completed their full vaccination regimen under the national vaccination programme.

About 57 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine booster shots.