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31 of 355 new COVID cases in Singapore imported; 1 death

Crowds of people wearing protective face masks walk in Singapore's Orchard Road shopping district on Sunday, 12 December 2021. Singapore authorities reported on 15 December 2021, 2 persons with the Omincron variant of the Covid-19 virus who dined in restaurants along Orchard Road. (Photo by Joseph Nair/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Crowds of people wearing protective face masks walk at Orchard Road on 12 December, 2021 in Singapore. (PHOTO: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

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 Thursday (16 December) confirmed 355 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore – bringing the country's total case count to 274,972 – as well as one death due to the disease.

Thursday marks the 14th day in a row with less than 1,000 cases reported in the city-state.

It is also the 88th day in a row with fatalities from COVID-19 reported in Singapore, with 85 people having succumbed to it this month. The MOH did not provide details on the one fatality reported on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 324 are local – 315 are in the community, and nine are residents of migrant worker dormitories. The remaining 31 are imported.

The ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before – or the weekly infection growth rate – is 0.6, down from Wednesday's 0.62. This is the 34th day in a row where the figure is lower than 1.

Singapore on Thursday confirmed that it detected 24 cases of Omicron in total, of whom three are locally transmitted infections.

Four others have also tested preliminarily positive for the new variant, including two airport workers and a couple who dined at four restaurants in the Orchard Road area.

68 require oxygen supplementation; 34 in ICU

Apart from the 808 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.

A total of 847 cases were discharged on Thursday, while 504 remain warded. Over the last 28 days, of the 27,742 infected individuals, 98.7 per cent had no or mild symptoms.

There are currently 68 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation.

A total of 34 cases are in the intensive care unit (ICU) – four are unstable and under close monitoring to prevent further deterioration, while 30 are critically ill and intubated.

The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 45.7 per cent, down from Wednesday's 49.9 per cent.

As of Wednesday, 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 87 per cent has received at least one dose, and 32 per cent has received their booster shots.

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