Singapore sees omicron coronavirus wave outpacing delta

Singapore expects the omicron coronavirus variant to cause a bigger wave of infections than delta, the health ministry said on Wednesday, adding a booster dose will soon be required for adults to maintain their fully vaccinated status.

From Feb 14, eligible persons aged 18 years and above should have received a booster dose no later than 270 days after the last dose in the primary vaccination series to continue to be considered fully vaccinated, the ministry said.

The city-state of 5.5 million people allows only those counted as fully vaccinated to enter malls or dine in restaurants or at hawker stalls.

Over the past week, Singapore detected 1,281 omicron cases, comprising 1,048 people who had come from overseas and 233 local cases. The number made up around 18% of its total infections in the last week.

The delta variant hit a peak of about 5,000 cases in a day, while omicron could far exceed this and lead to as many as 10,000-15,000 cases in a worst case scenario, Kenneth Mak, the health ministry's director of medical services, told reporters.

The country's week-on-week infection ratio hit 1.09 on Tuesday, the first time in nearly two months that the rate crossed 1, which indicates the number of new weekly local COVID-19 cases is rising.

Authorities said on Wednesday the COVID-19 situation remained under control and that they would maintain current COVID-19 rules, such as restricting social gatherings to five people through the expected omicron wave and during the Chinese New Year period, which is in about a month.

The government said it plans to tighten measures only as a last resort.