Singapore: Singapore reported 715 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total tally in the country to 270,588.
Of the new cases, 700 were in the community, five were in migrant worker dormitories and 10 were imported cases, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the statistics released by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
A total of 827 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 43 cases being critically ill and intubated in the intensive care unit (ICU). The current overall ICU utilisation rate is 53.3 per cent.
Eight more patients have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 771, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, Russia has confirmed the first two cases of the omicron coronavirus variant in the country in travellers who returned from South Africa, health authorities said.
The Russian public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said a total of 10 people who returned from South Africa recently tested positive for Covid-19, but the new variant has only been confirmed in two cases so far, with other samples still being studied for omicron.
All those returning from South Africa in recent days have been quarantined in observation facilities, according to media reports. All travellers who tested positive for the virus have been hospitalized, Rospotrebnadzor said. It wasn’t immediately clear if they were hospitalized as a precaution or because they were seriously ill.
Russia restricted entry for all foreigners travelling from countries in southern Africa and required all Russian nationals returning from South Africa or neighboring countries as of Thursday to quarantine for 14 days because of the omicron variant, which was first reported by scientists in South Africa.
Much remains unknown about the new variant, including whether it is more contagious, as some health authorities suspect, whether it makes people more seriously ill and whether it can thwart coronavirus vaccines.