No plans to go back to Phase 1 after GE; rise in cases will be monitored

Singapore

THERE are no plans to revert to Phase 1 or a lockdown immediately after the General Election, despite a recent uptick in the number of new community cases reported daily, the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 said on Tuesday.

An average of 12 new community cases were reported daily in the past week, up from an average of eight a day in the previous week.

This is expected to increase further in the coming weeks, given that Singapore has resumed economic activities and social interaction for just two weeks, roughly the same as the incubation period for the virus.

Ministry of Health director of medical services Kenneth Mak said: "We continue to keep a close watch on the community, but we don't have active plans to say that immediately after the elections, we're going to quickly go back into Phase 1. That's not the case.

"But we are working on our contingencies. We are mindful that we may see clusters emerging in various places. We do not want to be complacent, and as a result we are working on our responses should any of these scenarios bear fruit."

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Health Minister and taskforce co-chair Gan Kim Yong added that any such decision would not be based on a particular number of cases, but would also depend on the severity of the cases. Singapore has increased the capacity of its healthcare infrastructure over the last three to four months, adding more beds and setting up community care facilities for the less severe cases, but a surge in severe cases would tax the healthcare workforce.

"Our healthcare workers are very stretched even at today's rate, because all of them work very hard, overnight, tirelessly," Mr Gan said. "We do want to make sure that we are able to sustain the healthcare system and workforce for the long term."

More than half of the community cases since the start of Phase 1 are linked to confirmed cases, and the majority of transmissions among linked community cases continue to take place within households.

Among unlinked cases, 47 per cent tested positive in serology tests, indicating that they are likely to be past infections. About half of the unlinked cases are from the construction sector or construction-related occupations.

The majority of these cases are asymptomatic, and were picked up through active surveillance testing of higher-risk groups such as front-line workers, and those working in the construction, marine and process sectors.

More cases have also been detected since the expansion of testing to include those aged 13 years and older who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) upon first presentation to a doctor.

Mr Gan said: "We should expect the number of community cases, especially those detected through enhanced ARI testing, to start to go up over the next few weeks. We must therefore remain vigilant."

The proportion of community cases transmitted in workplace settings has risen in the first two phases of Singapore's phased reopening, while the total number of daily new Covid-19 cases has declined.

In Phase 1, workplace transmissions made up 22 per cent of linked community cases; this has since increased to 36 per cent with the start Phase 2 on June 19.

The taskforce reiterated that all employers should continue to have their staff work from home unless there is a "clear and demonstrable need" to access specialised equipment or machinery at work.

"We have not seen large clusters in the workplace setting, but the few that we have seen should remind all of us, and all employers in particular, that they really need to take safe-management practices very seriously," said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, who is the other taskforce co-chair.

"It is in the interest of the employers to do so, because should a cluster form in the workplace, we may very well have to ask the employer to shut down their business operations and require every employee to be tested. This will only impact the business."

In response to a question about whether Singapore is involved in plans for an Asean "green lane" for travel within the region, Mr Wong said a multilateral agreement is something to aspire towards, but would be difficult to achieve in the near term as the virus situation varies from country to country in the region.

"For now, discussions are happening on a bilateral basis... We are making progress in our discussions with Malaysia for a fast lane arrangement, and we are continuing to discuss with other countries in the region too," Mr Wong said.

Mr Gan added that it is easier to work bilaterally at the start, and lay the foundation for agreements that more countries can join gradually.

"We should not hold back bilateral arrangements and wait just for the regional ones. Both can progress, but the bilateral ones would be easier, and might progress faster and more easily," he said.

Singapore reported 157 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, taking the country's total to 45,140. Twenty are community cases, of which 12 are Singaporeans or permanent residents and eight are work pass holders.

Twelve cases are contacts of earlier cases and had already been placed on quarantine. Three are imported cases, which like all travellers entering Singapore were isolated under Stay-Home Notices (SHN) upon arrival and tested when they were unwell or before the end of their SHN.

Migrant workers living in dormitories continue to comprise the majority of new cases.