Singapore — After saying announcing a strategy shift in Jun in that Covid-19 would be treated as endemic, the government dismayed many with the possibility of a return to tighter measures due to the rising number of infections.
Despite having one of the highest vaccination rates—over 81 per cent—of anywhere in the world, if not the highest, the government has seemed hesitant in fully reopening Singapore.
A Sept 9 Reuters article states that authorities have been “spooked by the fast pace of transmission” of Covid cases lately.
That day, 450 new locally transmitted infections were reported, the largest number since Aug of last year, and over double, the cases reported last week. The number of infection clusters has also grown.
However, the fatality rate, as well as the number of those severely ill, have remained low.
Reuters reported that experts are asking whether Singapore can take ‘bolder’ steps, due to its high vaccination rate.
It quotes Duke-NUS Medical School infectious diseases expert Ooi Eng Eong as saying, “There will necessarily have to be some trial and error but I personally think Singapore’s vaccination rate now allows us to be bolder with moving forward.”
The report further says that vigilant testing may not even be necessary, given that many of the new infections are asymptomatic.
“It’s not obvious that we need to know the infection status of asymptomatic contacts” because of the high vaccination rate, according to NUS infectious disease modelling expert Dr Alex Cook.
Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who heads the multi-ministry task force dealing with the pandemic, said on Monday (Sept 6) that the government’s concern with the rise in cases is the possibility of overwhelming the hospital system.
He warned that in two weeks, infections may rise up to 1000 a day, or even 2000 new daily cases within a month, given that the reproduction rate of the virus is greater than 1.
“We have seen this from the experience of other countries: when cases rise so sharply, the number of ICU cases will go up, as will the number of people who succumb to the virus. This has happened even in places where the vaccination rates are high.
So we have to slow down the transmission and bring down the R,” he wrote in a Facebook post on Monday night, adding that “we will go for aggressive contact tracing and ring-fencing of cases, and widespread testing.”
Returning to Heightened Alert and the Circuit Breaker would be “last resort measures,” Mr Wong also wrote, but warned, “If, despite our best efforts, we see a sharp rise in the number of serious cases needing oxygen or ICU cases, then we may have no choice but to adopt a tightened posture.” /TISG
“I no longer have confidence in the commitment of the MTF to opening up” — writer Devadas Krishnadas