Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Thursday (June 2) that the next wave of Covid-19 infections may arrive in a “matter of months.”
More specifically, this could be as early as July or August, he said at the Ministry of Health’s annual Work Plan Seminar.
However, this is not necessarily bad news, and he reassured the healthcare workers in the audience that the country can afford to be “quietly optimistic” due to Singapore’s high vaccination rate and masking rules that are still in place.
“With vaccination, most will recover uneventfully,” Yahoo!News Singapore quotes him as saying.
But he underlined nevertheless that the country needs to stay prepared for any outcome, even if the coming wave is something Singapore can “ride through.”
The first cases of the BA.4 variant and BA.5 variant were reported by the MOH on May 15. These variants are now driving the current wave of Covid infections in South Africa.
The Health Minister said that the country cannot afford to go through again what it experienced with the Omicron wave of infections last year, which took a toll on the healthcare system.
He added that healthcare facilities need to ensure they can manage the COVID-19 patient load and prepare more hospital beds in order to relieve pressure on the healthcare system.
Mr Ong said that one thing that can be done is to add to the number of beds in nursing homes to accommodate long-term hospital patients who are in line for this type of placement.
He also said that a redesign can be done of COVID-19 community treatment facilities so that they can take in patients who do not need acute hospital care.
The Health Minister added that the endeavour to provide individuals over the age of 60 with booster shots could be ramped up.
“This is the group that’s most vulnerable, and I think we need to focus on getting them vaccinated with their third shot.”
Mr Ong said, “If we do all this, I believe we can ride through the BA.4, BA.5 waves,” he said.
/TISG