A total of 220 new HIV patient were reported among Singapore citizens and permanent residents in the first 10 months of this year, the Ministry of Health, said today, Channel News Asia reports.
Singapore reported 323 HIV patients for the whole of 2019 and 313 the year before.
The health ministry said it analyzed 125 of the new cases, which were reported between January and June.
The majority – 90 percent – were men. Most were below 60 years old, with 42 percent aged between 40 and 59 and 37 percent aged between 20 and 39.
About 54 percent had late-stage HIV when they were diagnosed, an increase from 49 percent for the same period last year.
Sexual intercourse accounted for 96 percent of the 125 cases. About 46 percent were from homosexual transmission, 40 percent from heterosexual transmission and 10 percent from bisexual transmission.
About 58 percent of all patients were detected by HIV tests done during medical care, the ministry said. Only 15 percent of patients were found through self-initiated HIV screening.
"A higher proportion of homosexuals/bisexuals (21 percent) had their HIV infection detected via self-initiated HIV screening compared with heterosexuals (8 per cent)," said the ministry.
