777 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore; 535 Omicron infections confirmed

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 777 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Friday (Jan 7), including 396 imported infections.

There were two fatalities, taking the country's death toll from coronavirus complications to 837, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website.

Friday’s case count was down from the 813 reported on Thursday.  

Among the new cases reported on Friday, 381 were locally transmitted, comprising 366 in the community and 15 in migrant worker's dormitories.

A total of 535 new Omicron infections were confirmed on Friday, comprising 284 imported cases and 251 local cases. The daily 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 Friday was 1.69, up from Thursday's 1.50. The statistic - viewed by authorities as a key indicator in calibrating COVID-19 measures - refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

A rate of more than 1 means that the number of new weekly cases is rising. The weekly infection growth rate surpassed 1 for the first time since Nov 12 on Tuesday. 

As of Friday, Singapore has recorded 283,991 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

HOSPITALISATIONS AND VACCINATIONS

The intensive care unit (ICU) utilisation rate was 43.2 per cent, down from the 47.1 per cent reported on Thursday.

There were 165 patients in hospital, with 10 requiring oxygen supplementation.

In the ICU, one patient required close monitoring while 12 patients were critically ill.

As of Thursday, 91 per cent of Singapore's eligible population have completed their full vaccination regimen under the national vaccination programme. 

This figure has been updated to include children aged five to 11 after vaccination for this age group started last week. About 44 per cent of the total population have received their vaccine booster shots.