Ong Ye Kung says ‘worry’ in Singapore is about ‘what kind of mutations may come out of China’ as the country opens up

Singapore’s Health Minister warned of the possibility of new mutations of the virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in light of the easing of restrictions in China.

After protests broke out in China last month, many of the strict Covid curbs were dropped as of Dec 7. Since then, infection rates have been on the rise across the country.

Speaking at a visit to a recently-deployed mobile vaccination team at Hong Kah North Community Centre on Monday (Dec 12), Mr Ong noted that with the coming of the Northern Hemisphere winter, hospitals would see more patients as diseases spread.

He also said that as China reopens, this could bring about new coronavirus mutations.

Therefore, despite the low infection numbers at present in Singapore and more and more people getting the bivalent Covid-19 vaccine, he encouraged more individuals, especially senior citizens, to make sure they get the jab.

“Everything, in general, is calm, but at the same time, we also wanted to be prepared,” he said.

Regarding China, TODAY reports him as saying, “They’re taking very decisive steps to open up their economy and society. This (is) bound to drive up infections, which we are not so worried (about) because our resilience is high and we’ve gone through three waves this year.

But the question is, with 1.3 billion people mostly uninfected, (when) the disease starts to spread, we are bound to get mutations.

What we worry more… is what kind of mutations may come out of China. So that’s what we’re watching.”

Several mobile vaccination teams were launched on Dec 12.

Two bivalent vaccines are being offered in Singapore at the moment, Pfizer-BioNTech’s Comirnaty for individuals from the age of 12 and up and Moderna’s Spikevax, which is for people from the ages of 18 and up.

The Health Minister said that around 5 out of every 10,000 infections end up in death or with the patient needing intensive care.

But for people aged 70 and above, this figure rises to 70 for every 10,000 infections.

Mr Ong told journalists, “It’s quite significantly higher. So in the end, this is still about protecting the seniors, making sure they get up-to-date vaccinations.”

The Ministry of Health has said that among Singapore’s citizens from the age of 60 and up, nine out of 10 have attained minimum protection against Covid, and six out of 10 are up to date with their vaccine schedules. /TISG

Ong Ye Kung: With holidays coming, there are bound to be more Covid infections