SINGAPORE: There has been a significant rise in COVID-19 infections in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Dec 2), urging people to keep up to date with their vaccinations.
The number of estimated COVID-19 infections doubled to 22,094 in the week of Nov 19 to 25, compared with 10,726 in the previous week.
“The average daily COVID-19 hospitalisations and ICU cases have remained stable,” the ministry added.
MOH said the rise in infections could be due to factors such as the year-end travelling season and waning population immunity.
EG.5 and its sub-lineage HK.3 remain the predominant subvariants in Singapore, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the cases sequenced.
“Currently, there is no indication that the predominant subvariants are more transmissible or cause more severe disease compared to other circulating variants,” MOH said.
GLOBAL RESPIRATORY ILLNESSES
Noting the rise in respiratory illnesses in northern-hemisphere countries in the winter months, the ministry said the overall incidence of respiratory illnesses in Singapore has remained stable over the past month.
“There is no indication of increases in severe respiratory illness, including in children,” it added.
China, which has seen a surge in “influenza-like illness” since mid-October, said the spike was due to the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions and the circulation of known pathogens, namely influenza and common bacterial infections that affect children, including mycoplasma pneumonia.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Chinese authorities said they have not detected any “unusual or novel pathogens” in the north of the country.
Singapore’s Health Ministry noted that to date, the WHO has stated that the increasing trend of respiratory illnesses is not unexpected due to the onset of the winter season.