Daily Covid number exceeding 10,000 not unexpected: Singapore minister

Daily coronavirus count exceeding the 10,000 mark was not unexpected due to highly transmissible nature of the Omicron variant of the infection, said Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

Singapore reported 10,505 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, the fourth time this week that daily infection count exceeded the 10,000 mark.

The minister said the government was expecting 15,000-20,000 infections per day. ''Omicron is highly transmissible so reaching 15,000, 20,000 or more is something within our expectations. So far, it's been that. It's been staying around 10,000 for some days, which gives us some comfort,'' Channel News Asia quoted the minister as saying. Despite the increase in cases, Ong said the city state's healthcare system is still holding up. ''The percentage of people requiring oxygen has remained the same. So, the numbers have not changed. The number of patients that require oxygen remains at 0.3 per cent. The number of patients that needed ICU or unfortunately passed away is about 0.05 per cent. So we are looking at a level much lower than Delta,” the minister said. He added that although there has been an increase in the number of people visiting general practitioners due to COVID-19, many of them had ''mild or no symptoms''.

Of the 10,505 patients reported as of noon on Saturday, 180 were those who arrived from abroad.

The eight fatalities reported on Saturday is the highest number in more than two months. So far, Singapore has recorded 460,075 cases and 893 deaths linked to the virus since the start of the pandemic.