SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): If Covid-19 continues to spread in the community at the current rate, there could be 2,000 new daily cases in a month's time, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said on Monday (Sept 6). What concerns the authorities is not the absolute number of cases but the rate at which the virus is spreading, said the minister, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force on the virus. The R value measures the average number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to. The number of new cases in the community almost doubled to more than 1,200 cases last week, up from around 600 cases the week before. "We know from the experience of other countries that when cases rise so sharply, there would be many more intensive care unit (ICU) cases and also people succumbing to the virus," Wong said.

Source: The Star September 07, 2021 02:15 UTC