SINGAPORE: The increase in the average number of new COVID-19 cases in the community per day is “not unexpected”, with Singapore in Phase 2 of its reopening, said Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong on Thursday (Jul 2).
The number of new cases in the community has increased from an average of four cases per day in the week before to an average of eight cases a day in the past week, said Mr Gan, speaking at a multi-ministry task force press conference.
AdvertisementAdvertisement“This is not unexpected as more activities resume and the number of interactions increases. A similar trend can be observed in many other countries that have exited from lockdowns and restrictions,” he added.
Among the community cases in the past two weeks, the majority were picked up from active surveillance and screening, said Mr Gan.
“We want to detect cases early so that we can ringfence them and prevent large clusters from forming,” he added.
Most of the cases detected in the community are mild or have no symptoms, said Ministry of Health (MOH) director of medical services Associate Professor Kenneth Mak.
AdvertisementAdvertisementTest results also suggest that many of the infections occurred “quite some time ago”, he added.
Noting that MOH has extended its definition of suspect cases for the purposes of testing, Assoc Prof Mak said the ministry is involved in active case finding through routine testing of groups such as people working in essential services and those who have frequent contact with vulnerable people.
With Singapore in Phase 2, the risk of transmission increases if a person who turns out to have COVID-19 does not see a doctor immediately and goes out to work or to have a meal, said Minister of National Development Lawrence Wong who co-chairs the task force.
“And that’s why, as we have highlighted, we now move in a lot more aggressively, a lot faster, to identify all the possible close contacts. And we try and put a large ringfence around that confirmed case,” he added.
“When we go in, we know that there is a case, we immediately go in to identify a larger group that potentially might be close contacts.”
Noting that the ministry is “casting a wider net” around each confirmed COVID-19 case, Mr Wong said the public should expect that more people may be notified when the cases are confirmed.
“While we have this enhanced testing and tracing capability, I think we should not take it for granted that this system is foolproof and that we can catch every single case.
“We should not push the system to its limits, we should not be taking unnecessary risk,” said Mr Wong, urging individuals to remain vigilant and uphold social distancing measures.
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