Rise in COVID cases “much earlier” than expected: Ong

SINGAPORE – The current rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore has come much sooner than authorities had hoped, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Friday (September 17th), a day after the city -State reported 910 new infections – the highest since May 1. year.

“We had hoped that this wave of transmission could come later, maybe at Transition Stage B, but it came a lot sooner in large part because Delta is so much more contagious,” he said. he stated in a virtual interview.

As of August 10, Singapore has been in the first step – or preparatory phase – of a four-part roadmap towards endemic COVID-19. The other three stages are Transition Stage A, Transition Stage B, and finally, the COVID-19 Resilient Nation.

While this “major wave of transmission” has come earlier than expected here, it is inevitable for every country that has decided to live with the virus, said Ong, who is the co-chair of the COVID-19 multi-ministerial task force.

“It’s almost like a rite of passage before humans and the virus strike a new balance and things stabilize,” he said.

High vaccination rate in Singapore

However, Ong noted that Singapore is passing through the current wave of COVID-19 after around 80% of the population has been fully vaccinated against the disease, unlike other countries that have encountered the wave very early in the pandemic, making it many victims.

Friday marks the 26th day of the current wave, which typically peaks between four and eight weeks.

Cases in Singapore have doubled every week, with the average number of daily cases rising from 146 a fortnight ago to 682 last week. More than 98% of these cases had no symptoms or had mild symptoms. Only 1.6% and 0.1% of total infections in the past 28 days required supplemental oxygen and are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, respectively.

“We are not the first country to have undergone this baptism of fire, and we will not be the last,” Ong warned.

The story continues

If the current rate of infection persists, which “is increasing faster than expected,” he observed, Singapore could see 2,000 new cases daily next month.

“But what we’re pretty clear is you can’t sustain many laps or overtake even when we have a very small conversion to supplemental oxygen needs or critical care care,” Ong said, noting that the next two weeks would be crucial, particularly in determining whether Singapore is going to run out of intensive care beds and overload hospitals as a whole.

Default home recovery program

Expanding the home recovery program to make it a default arrangement for eligible COVID-19 patients aged 12 to 69 – up from 50 previously – will help resolve these uncertainties. It will start from Saturday.

Department of Health (MOH) Director of Medical Services Kenneth Mak noted that the number of critically ill cases is not increasing along with the total number of infections here.

This trend of cases is being watched closely and if it continues to follow a similar “disconnect” between the number of community cases with hospitalized people, Singapore “may in fact be doing well and the health resources we have at our disposal would be well able to do so. face, ”he said. added.

But Associate Professor Mak noted that while the indications are encouraging at this point, the data collected is still at a very early stage.

“We need to look at the situation over the next two weeks to better understand whether this trend continues,” he reiterated.

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