Coronavirus update: Singapore reports 16,870 new cases, 3 more deaths

Singapore reported 16,870 new COVID-19 cases 15,978 local infections and 892 imported cases and three deaths as of Wednesday noon.

"The increase in the number of cases today is due to the spike we typically see following a long weekend. The seven-day moving average number of local cases has remained stable over the past week, at about 8,400," the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on its website.

Among the local cases reported on Wednesday, 15,072 people tested positive in the Antigen Rapid Tests (ARTs) and were assessed by doctors to have mild symptoms. They were of low risk, the MOH said.

The remaining 906 local COVID-19 cases were confirmed via Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.

Of the imported cases, 854 were tested with ARTs and 38 with PCR tests, it said.

Singapore has recorded 15,57,648 COVID-19 cases and 1,440 deaths linked to the virus since the start of the pandemic.

The cases reported on Wednesday were nearly three times that of Tuesday when 5,979 COVID-19 infections were reported.

The last time Singapore reported daily infections more than those seen on Wednesday was on March 9 when 17,051 COVID-19 new cases were registered.

Singapore's daily COVID-19 tally had remained under 10,000 between late March and late June.

Since June 28, there have been three instances where more than 10,000 COVID-19 cases were reported in a day, two of which were on Tuesdays, according to a Channel News Asia report.