Singapore — On Tuesday (Oct 19), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 3,994 new Covid-19 cases, the largest number of infections in Singapore since the pandemic began – another Tuesday that perhaps added anxiety for Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.
However, despite the record-high number, MOH called it a “usual post-weekend surge.”
Tuesdays have been the day in the week that usually sees an increase in Covid cases, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in a Facebook post last week.
He wrote on Oct 12 that Tuesdays had been making him feel anxious, because reports of Covid-19 cases tended to spike on that day.
But Mr Ong said that last Tuesday bucked this trend.
“I have been feeling anxious on Tuesdays, because that is when cases detected on Mondays would be reported, and it always spike after the weekends,” the Health Minister wrote, adding, “The good news is that it didn’t today, to the great relief of the MTF.”
Mr Ong has not yet commented on social media regarding Oct 19’s highest single-day rise in Covid cases.
On Oct 19, aside from the record-high number of new cases, seven additional deaths from Covid-19 complications were also reported.
There are also now 71 individuals warded in hospitals’ Intensive Care Units, up from 67 the day before. According to the ministry, this has put hospitals “under significant pressure and strain.”
As alarming as these numbers could be, MOH said in its Covid update that this was a “usual” surge after the weekend.
“There is a usual post-weekend surge in cases today. We will have to closely monitor cases for the next few days, to determine if this is a temporary spike or a further surge in infections.”
However, the ministry said that “a rise in activity levels” has been seen over the past week, “including a higher number of visitors across all malls, larger crowds in the Orchard Road area, as well as a slight increase in public transport ridership.”
Perhaps more worryingly, MOH added that the number of infected seniors aged 60 years old and above and who are unvaccinated “has risen over the past few days, to well over 100 a day.
As for Mr Ong, he sounded an optimistic note recently, saying that Singapore is nearing the “light at the end” of the pandemic tunnel.
On Monday, the Health Minister defended Singapore’s approach to managing the pandemic, despite criticism from some that the management had been “flip-flop.”
“Some may feel that this middle-of-the-road approach is unclear, and may even appear to be a ‘flip-flop’. But it has helped us avert the massive deaths that many countries have suffered from,” Mr Ong said.
“It is the correct approach for Singapore and, day by day, we are moving closer to the light at the end of the tunnel.”
/TISG
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Ong Ye Kung confesses ‘feeling anxious’ about COVID spikes on Tuesdays