Singapore — The country’s Covid-19 infections may reach 5,000 new cases daily, but Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said recently that “no wave will last forever,” and encouraged the public to not be afraid.
The high number of cases, which has remained at over 2,000 for the past week, may seem alarming and may cause some to wish for a strict lockdown to bring the number of cases down, Mr Wong said.
However, he added, “We’re no longer focusing solely on headline numbers. Our focus is on the people who are seriously ill, and to make sure that our healthcare system is able to take care of them.
So let’s not get too carried away by the headline numbers or too anxious or fearful about those numbers.”
Mr Wong said this at the Multi-Ministry Task Force press conference on on Oct. 2
In an update on its website on the same day, the Ministry of Health wrote that the current trajectory of cases may lead to Singapore reaching “3,200 daily cases soon, and may even start to see 5,000 cases daily around mid-October.”
But the “vast majority” of these cases would be mild or even asymptomatic ones, and would only need home recovery, with only 0.2 per cent of cases needing confinement in hospital Intensive Care Units (ICU).
MOH wrote that there are 34 ICU beds at present occupied by Covid patients, but this number is expected to increase.
Mr Wong already mentioned that the number of Covid cases may rise to 5,000 a day as early as Sept 27, adding that 10 per cent, or 500 cases, may need hospitalisation for at least one week.
He said this in the context that the Government was ramping up its resources in order to be able to manage such a scenario if it should arise.
The MOH said in its Oct 2 update that four COVID-19 Treatment Facilities (CTFs) have been set up over the past week with a capacity of 580 beds.
By the end of the month, MOH expects a total of nine CTFs to have been set up, with a capacity of 3,700 beds
“The CTFs will be used to care for higher risk patients who needs close observation, but do not need hospital care. One example will be seniors with co-morbidities who are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic. This is an important step towards right-siting care and reducing the strain on our acute hospitals which should be preserved for those who require immediate acute hospital care, both COVID-19 as well as non-COVID patients,” MOH added. /TISG
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