Over 8,800 cases of COVID-19 reinfection in Singapore in the past 5 months

There were 8,845 cases of COVID-19 reinfection detected in the last five months, from Nov 1, 2021 to Mar 25, 2022. 

The “vast majority” of reinfection cases had mild symptoms, said Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (Apr 5) in his written response to a parliamentary question filed by Member of Parliament He Ting Ru.

Ms He, who is from the Workers’ Party, had asked how many cases of reinfections have been detected since November 2021, whether there are any significant differences in healthcare outcomes for re-infected patients in Singapore, what proportion of COVID-19 patients admitted to ICU (Intensive Care Unit) are re-infected patients and what is the demographic breakdown of COVID-19 reinfection cases. 

Out of the reinfection cases, only one required admission to the ICU. Two deaths were also reported, said Mr Ong. 

“The majority of reinfection cases are below 60 years of age,” Mr Ong added. 

The number of reinfections over the past five months is much higher than the previous figure reported in November last year, before the Omicron wave hit. Mr Ong said then in a parliamentary written answer that there were only 32 confirmed COVID-19 reinfection cases as of Aug 16, 2021.

A third of the cases were dormitory residents and the remaining were imported cases. At that time, the duration between initial infection and subsequent reinfection varied, with an average of about 300 days, Mr Ong said then. 

As of Apr 6, Singapore has recorded 1,123,886 COVID-19 cases and 1,287 deaths since the pandemic started.