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Singapore reported 19,420 new Covid-19 cases as of 12pm on Tuesday (Feb. 15).

Here's the breakdown of the cases:

Locally transmitted cases: 19,179

Imported cases: 241

Deaths: 7

The country has recorded 497,997 Covid-19 cases and 913 deaths in total since the start of the pandemic.

ART cases

New infections detected via ART: 16,161 (16,102 local cases + 59 imported cases)

Weekly infection growth rate: 1.34 (lower than 1.39 the day before)

A figure below 1 indicates that the number of new weekly Covid-19 cases is falling.

Hospitalisations

Patients in hospital: 1,355

Requiring oxygen supplementation: 140

In ICU: 23

Government expects 15,000 to 20,000 cases per day

In Parliament, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said that Covid-19 cases are expected to reach 15,000 to 20,000, or more per day, due to Omicron being highly infectious.

While the "top line daily infection number" reflects where Singapore is on the epidemic curve, the disease's severity, and its subsequent impact on healthcare capacity, is "more critical".

The Omicron variant's impact "has been significantly more moderate" compared to the Delta variant for two reasons.

One, Omicron is less severe and generally infects the upper respiratory airways, and two, a high percentage of the Singapore population has been vaccinated or boosted.

As a result, a vast majority of the cases have mild or no symptoms, and very few develop severe illness and require oxygen supplementation or ICU care, or have passed away, despite the high daily infection numbers, Ong said.

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Top image by Zheng Zhangxin.