SINGAPORE, 09 Dec (CNA)- Singapore reported 682 new COVID-19 cases and five fatalities as of noon on Thursday (Dec 9).

This takes the death toll from coronavirus complications to 779.

The weekly infection growth rate fell to 0.58 from Wednesday's 0.61. This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

The growth rate has remained below 1 since Nov 13. A figure below 1 means that the number of new weekly COVID-19 cases is falling.

Thursday's daily case count is down from the 709 infections reported on Wednesday.

A total of 665 are locally transmitted cases, comprising 649 in the community and 16 in migrant workers' dormitories.

The remaining 17 cases are imported, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Health's (MOH) website.

As of Thursday, Singapore has recorded 271,979 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.