Singapore: Singapore witnessed a major spike in Covid cases as in the first week of this month- December 3 to December 9- the estimated number of infections due to coronavirus rose to 56,043. Following the spike in cases, Singapore’s health ministry advised mask usage in crowded places, particularly indoors. Travellers were also urged to adopt precautions such as mask-wearing at airports and avoiding poorly ventilated crowded areas.
Singapore’s health ministry said that the Covid cases in the first week of December rose to 56,043, compared to 32,035 in the previous week. Average daily Covid hospitalisations rose to 350 from 225 the week before, and the average daily Intensive Care Unit (ICU) cases increased to nine, compared to four in the previous week, it informed.
The dominant strain causing these infections has been identified as JN.1, a sublineage of BA.2.86.
“Based on the available international and local data, there is currently no clear indication that BA.2.86 or JN.1 are more transmissible or cause more severe disease than other circulating variants,” authorities said.