2 COVID deaths, 195 new cases in S'pore: 42 of 49 imported have Omicron

NOTE: The MOH has stopped issuing daily media releases on infection statistics. In line with the MOH's announcement, Gov.sg has also stopped its daily WhatsApp updates on such statistics.

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (20 December) confirmed 195 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore – bringing the country's total case count to 276,105 – as well as two deaths due to the disease.

Forty-five of them have been infected with Omicron, of whom 42 are imported and three are locally transmitted cases.

This means that of the 49 total imported cases on Monday, only seven were uninfected with the new variant. The remaining 146 are local cases – 141 are in the community, and five are residents of migrant worker dormitories.

With the addition of Monday's new Omicron cases, Singapore now has 71 cases of the new variant. In a separate press release, the MOH also announced that a new cluster at an Anytime Fitness branch at Bukit Timah Shopping Centre is preliminarily linked to Omicron.

Monday marks the 18th day in a row with less than 1,000 cases reported in the city-state.

It is also the 92nd day in a row with fatalities from COVID-19 reported in Singapore, with 92 people having succumbed to it this month. The MOH did not provide details on the two fatalities reported on Monday.

The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before – or the weekly infection growth rate – is 0.56 for the second day. It is the 38th day in a row where the figure is lower than 1.

Apart from the 815 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

57 require oxygen supplementation; 36 in ICU

A total of 396 cases were discharged on Monday, while 506 remain warded. Over the last 28 days, of the 21,909 infected individuals, 98.6 per cent had no or mild symptoms.

There are currently 57 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation.

A total of 36 cases are in the intensive care unit (ICU) – seven are unstable and under close monitoring to prevent further deterioration, while 29 are critically ill and intubated.

The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 52.8 per cent, up from Sunday's 43.8 per cent.

As of Sunday, the total number of individuals who have completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines is 96 per cent of the eligible population.

Among the total population, 87 per cent have done so, while 88 per cent have received at least one dose, and 34 per cent have received their booster shots.

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