280 new COVID-19 cases reported in Singapore; 101 new Omicron infections confirmed

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 280 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Monday (Dec 27), of which 134 were imported.

There were also three fatalities, taking the country's death toll from coronavirus complications to 825, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website.

Monday's case count was up from the 209 infections reported on Sunday.

Among the new cases reported on Monday, 146 were locally transmitted, comprising 141 in the community and five in migrant workers' dormitories.

Separately, MOH's website also showed that 101 new Omicron variant infections were confirmed on Monday, comprising 79 imported cases and 22 local cases.

The daily new COVID-19 cases and new confirmed Omicron cases are presented as two separate sets of data on MOH's website.

The weekly infection growth rate on Monday was 0.62, up from Sunday's 0.58. This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

The growth rate has remained below 1 since Nov 13. A figure below 1 means that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling.

As of Monday, Singapore has recorded 278,044 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS AND VACCINATIONS

The intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate was 49.3 per cent, down from the 50.1 per cent reported on Sunday. 

There were 363 patients in hospital, with 42 requiring oxygen supplementation.

In the ICU, nine patients required close monitoring while 17 patients were critically ill.

As of Sunday, 96 per cent of Singapore's eligible population have completed their full vaccination regimen under the national vaccination programme.

About 37 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine booster shots.