(Bloomberg) -- Singapore's Covid-19 outbreak may be slowing.
The number of new local infections fell in the past week compared to a week earlier for the first time since mid-October, marking a key milestone that could lead to an easing of restrictions in the financial hub.
The Southeast Asian city-state is tracking its local caseload on a week-over-week basis to show how fast and in what direction the virus is moving. Called the weekly infection growth rate, the ratio is critical for Singapore's reopening plans. Getting the number consistently below 1 is a government target, which could trigger the next round of calibrated easing of some Covid curbs, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said last month.
Singapore Nears Key Metric Tied to Easing Covid Curbs: Analysis
On Wednesday night, the Ministry of Health reported that the ratio of community cases for the past week, compared to a week earlier, had fallen to 0.96. A total of 3,635 new cases were recorded over the past day, a sharp drop from a week earlier when there was a mysterious surge of new infections.
It's unknown how fast the government may move now that the infection growth rate that it targeted has been reached. It dipped below 1 for a few days in mid-October before rising again, so easing may not come immediately.
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