SINGAPORE: The current wave of COVID-19 infections will not be as severe as the Omicron wave earlier this year, said Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (Jul 5).
Responding to a parliamentary question from MP Ang Wei Neng (PAP-West Coast) about the Government's response to the current wave of COVID-19 cases, Mr Ong said the authorities had anticipated this wave when they learnt of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
These subvariants have a "significant growth advantage" over the earlier BA.2 subvariant, he added.
“This wave, however, arrived slightly earlier than the July and August timeframe that we anticipated,” the Health Minister said.
“For this current wave, our assessment is that it will not be as severe as the Omicron wave earlier this year. This is because many more of us have gained stronger immunity either through booster shots or recovery from infections," he added.
“This will significantly impede the circulation and transmission of the virus.”
COVID-19 case numbers on Tuesday are expected to be more than 12,000, about 10 per cent more than Tuesday last week, he noted.
"There are indications that we are near the peak, if not at the peak, and we should be relieved that the number this week did not double from last week. Otherwise, we'll be at 24,000 or 22,000 this week," said Mr Ong.
In response to a question from MP Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Chua Chu Kang) if healthcare settings are "adequately equipped" to handle the next wave, Mr Ong said the key to managing the next wave is to ensure that Singapore’s hospital capacity is “not overly stressed”.
This includes ensuring high vaccination and booster coverage, as well as making sure healthcare institutions and facilities are prepared and ready to ramp up capacity if there are increased admissions, he added.
“Our hospitals remain ready to ramp up dedicated (intensive care unit) and isolation bed capacity should there be an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients who require hospitalisation,” said Mr Ong.
There are also “sufficient beds” in the COVID-19 treatment facilities for serious cases that do not need hospital care, he said, adding that such COVID-19 treatment facilities are about 25 per cent occupied.
The facilities were “recently consolidated” from more than 2,000 beds to about 1,300 beds, with a “higher manning ratio”, said Mr Ong. This makes it easier to transfer patients from hospitals to the facilities without a “significant drop” in levels of care, he added.
However, public hospitals continue to face “high demand” from non-COVID-19 patients, said Mr Ong.
“Over time, we hope more of our (COVID-19 treatment facilities) can be multi-purpose isolation and treatment facilities, for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients,” he added.
The COVID-19 treatment facility at Sengkang Community Hospital has been “reconfigured” to this new model, and the authorities will explore converting other facilities, said the Health Minister.
In anticipating the wave of infections, the Government maintained the indoor masking requirement even when cases were “low and stable”, to “moderate the infection rate” when the new wave arrived.
“If we still want to reduce the infection rate even further, more stringent safe management measures will need to be implemented. And that means reintroducing things like group sizes, capacity limits and masking outdoors,” said Mr Ong.
"We cannot rule out these steps when we are hit with a serious infection wave, but as far as possible, we should avoid them, especially if we are reasonably confident that our hospital capacity can hold up, and we are determined to live with COVID-19 and continue our journey to endemicity."
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Responding to a parliamentary question from MP Ang Wei Neng (PAP-West Coast) about the Government's response to the current wave of COVID-19 cases, Mr Ong said the authorities had anticipated this wave when they learnt of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
These subvariants have a "significant growth advantage" over the earlier BA.2 subvariant, he added.
“This wave, however, arrived slightly earlier than the July and August timeframe that we anticipated,” the Health Minister said.
“For this current wave, our assessment is that it will not be as severe as the Omicron wave earlier this year. This is because many more of us have gained stronger immunity either through booster shots or recovery from infections," he added.
“This will significantly impede the circulation and transmission of the virus.”
COVID-19 case numbers on Tuesday are expected to be more than 12,000, about 10 per cent more than Tuesday last week, he noted.
"There are indications that we are near the peak, if not at the peak, and we should be relieved that the number this week did not double from last week. Otherwise, we'll be at 24,000 or 22,000 this week," said Mr Ong.
In response to a question from MP Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Chua Chu Kang) if healthcare settings are "adequately equipped" to handle the next wave, Mr Ong said the key to managing the next wave is to ensure that Singapore’s hospital capacity is “not overly stressed”.
This includes ensuring high vaccination and booster coverage, as well as making sure healthcare institutions and facilities are prepared and ready to ramp up capacity if there are increased admissions, he added.
“Our hospitals remain ready to ramp up dedicated (intensive care unit) and isolation bed capacity should there be an increase in the number of COVID-19 patients who require hospitalisation,” said Mr Ong.
There are also “sufficient beds” in the COVID-19 treatment facilities for serious cases that do not need hospital care, he said, adding that such COVID-19 treatment facilities are about 25 per cent occupied.
The facilities were “recently consolidated” from more than 2,000 beds to about 1,300 beds, with a “higher manning ratio”, said Mr Ong. This makes it easier to transfer patients from hospitals to the facilities without a “significant drop” in levels of care, he added.
However, public hospitals continue to face “high demand” from non-COVID-19 patients, said Mr Ong.
“Over time, we hope more of our (COVID-19 treatment facilities) can be multi-purpose isolation and treatment facilities, for both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients,” he added.
The COVID-19 treatment facility at Sengkang Community Hospital has been “reconfigured” to this new model, and the authorities will explore converting other facilities, said the Health Minister.
In anticipating the wave of infections, the Government maintained the indoor masking requirement even when cases were “low and stable”, to “moderate the infection rate” when the new wave arrived.
“If we still want to reduce the infection rate even further, more stringent safe management measures will need to be implemented. And that means reintroducing things like group sizes, capacity limits and masking outdoors,” said Mr Ong.
"We cannot rule out these steps when we are hit with a serious infection wave, but as far as possible, we should avoid them, especially if we are reasonably confident that our hospital capacity can hold up, and we are determined to live with COVID-19 and continue our journey to endemicity."
Continue reading...