Singapore — Has the country turned the corner in battling the increase of Covid infections? Madam Ho Ching, the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, seems to think so.
In a Monday morning (Oct 18) Facebook post, she wrote, “Well done, folks!
We are getting there – we are beginning to change the trajectory of the increases in new cases.”
On Sunday (Oct 17) the Ministry of Health reported 3,058 new Covid-19 infections as well as nine deaths from Covid-related causes, the fifth straight day that the number of infections breached 3,000.
Amidst her congratulatory post, Mdm Ho warned, however, that “we should not go freewheeling too soon, but must learn to wait.”
She posted graphs of new community and dormitory cases that show the growth rate of infections, explaining that with a growth rate of less than 1, “we could expect a halving over time.”
The graphs, added Mdm Ho, show that the doubling of cases has begun to stop and that “we are… seeing the possibility of halving the case loads.”
“For now, we should halve the new cases, as each case adds to the stock in home recovery, QOs, CCF, CTF, and hospital oxygen, ICU and deaths,” she wrote.
This decrease will also lead to a more manageable Covid case load in hospitals.
With more people being vaccinated and vaccinations ensuring milder illness when people get infected, hospital stays will be shorter.
But those who are unvaccinated will likely still need longer hospital stays and recovery times.
“So the more population immunity is built up through vaccination, infection, or a combination of both and/or boosters, the less the pressure on hospitals for acute care,” she added.
The wife of PM Lee also wrote that vaccines for children under the age of 12, new treatments for Covid, and a promising new booster shot from AstraZeneca that provides antibodies for one-year protection also add to a positive outlook for the future.
“Keep steady, and let’s not relax too fast, but do at a steady pace, as we still need to reduce the flow of acute cases into the hospitals over the next 2-4 months,” she added. /TISG