ALMOST 6,000 people got themselves tested for HIV, the virus that causes Aids, in the first nine months of this year.

It was a record number reflecting the increased number of options people have here to get a test done anonymously and speedily.

And a higher number found themselves with the virus.

By the end of October, there were 356 people who tested positive, just one person fewer than the total for the whole of last year.

In revealing the numbers on Friday, the Health Ministry noted that more than half (55 per cent) of those found with HIV discovered this in the late stages of infection.

This means that they had been infected a long time ago and might have had a better chance of treatment and living successfully if they had been diagnosed earlier.

The ministry hoped that, with more testing centres available, more individuals who are at risk of contracting HIV will get themselves checked sooner and regularly.

The virus spreads mainly through unprotected sex and the sharing of needles by drug abusers, as well as from mother to child and via blood transfusions.

In most cases here, people contracted HIV through sex with an infected partner. Over two-thirds of those infected in the first half of the year got the virus through heterosexual sex and just under a quarter, through gay sex.

For the full story, read Saturday's edition of The Straits Times.