SINGAPORE: The current spike in COVID-19 cases in Singapore is higher than anticipated, but the Government’s policies are effective and should be able to manage the surge, experts told CNA.

“Singaporeans and foreign residents in Singapore should not be worried about the recent increase in the number of COVID-19 cases,” said Dr John P Ansah, Assistant Professor in the Health Services and Systems Research Programme at Duke-NUS Medical School, and a faculty fellow at the National University of Singapore.

“The current policies implemented by the government have proven effective and I am confident it will be enough to manage the current surge in cases.”

Dr Ansah’s recent work includes modelling the trajectory of the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore to understand how different interventions impact the community spread.

He added that most of the new COVID-19 cases are expected to be mild or with no symptoms.

While case numbers in Singapore have reached new highs daily, over the last 28 days nearly 98 per cent of the infected individuals have had mild or no symptoms, according to the latest update by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (Sep 23).

In that same period, about 1.8 per cent required oxygen supplementation, 0.2 per cent required ICU care, and 0.1 per cent of cases have died.

As of Wednesday, 82 per cent of Singapore’s population has completed the full vaccination regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

CONCERN ABOUT HIGH CASE NUMBERS
As Singapore transits to an endemic living with COVID-19, some people have expressed concerns about the record numbers of cases in the community, while others have pointed to the low number of severe infections.

The country reported 1,504 new cases on Thursday. Two more fatalities were reported on Thursday by MOH, bringing the national death toll to 70.

As of noon on Thursday, 1,120 COVID-19 cases were warded in hospital. There were 163 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation and 23 patients in the intensive care unit.

Professor Dale Fisher, senior consultant at the National University Hospital’s (NUH) Division of Infectious Diseases, said that Singapore is handling the transition to endemic living with COVID-19 in an “extremely intelligent, rational way”.

“It’s much easier to throw open the doors and say it’s Freedom Day but that comes with a much higher price,” he said at a webinar on Thursday evening about Singapore’s COVID-19 exit strategy.

But at the same time, it’s not feasible to continue lockdowns and exiting is “essential”, he said as lockdowns affect people’s mental health, livelihoods and many other aspects of life.

Source: Channel News Asia