December 27, 2021
SINGAPORE – None of the Omicron cases in Singapore has been severe so far, and infected individuals have not required oxygen supplementation or intensive care, said the Health Ministry on Sunday night (Dec 26).
It acknowledged, however, that this may also be because most cases are fully vaccinated and from younger age groups.
In an update on Omicron figures here, the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19 said that 546 confirmed Omicron cases have been detected as at Saturday (Dec 25), comprising 443 imported cases and 103 local cases.
In the past week, there were 13 unlinked community Omicron cases and 78 Omicron cases from local-linked community transmission.
The task force noted that overseas studies showed that mRNA vaccines reduced the risk of symptomatic infection from Omicron.
Preliminary estimates from overseas studies indicate that two doses of mRNA vaccines reduce the risk of symptomatic infection from Omicron by about 35 per cent, it said, and that the risk is further reduced to about 75 per cent lower for individuals who have taken a primary and booster mRNA regimen.
The task force highlighted the importance of pressing on with Singapore’s booster vaccination programme to enhance protection against infection and severe disease.
Globally, the Omicron variant has now been detected in more than 110 countries, mainly in Africa and Europe.
Current observations from affected countries and regions suggest that it is more transmissible than others that are currently in circulation.
The Omicron variant has overtaken the Delta variant as the predominant variant in numerous countries such as Britain and Denmark.