Singapore reports 9,701 new COVID-19 cases, 6 deaths

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 9,701 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Sunday (Mar 13), the first time the daily figure has dropped below 10,000 in nearly a month. 

The new infections comprise 9,597 local cases and 104 imported ones.

Six fatalities were reported on Sunday, taking the death toll from coronavirus complications to 1,145. 

There are 1,348 patients in hospital, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website. A total of 181 patients require oxygen supplementation.

Thirty-two patients are in the intensive care unit, compared to 37 on Saturday.

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 Sunday, 8,383 are classified under Protocol 2, comprising 8,326 local cases and 57 imported infections.

Another 1,318 cases were confirmed via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, with 47 of them being imported infections. 

The weekly infection growth rate was 0.87, lower than Saturday's figure of 0.89. It has remained below 1 since Mar 2, indicating that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling. 

Singapore has recorded 939,436 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

As of Saturday, 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.