Singapore tweaks Covid-19 measures, braces for 25,000 daily cases in Omicron wave

SINGAPORE is taking steps to preserve its healthcare capacity by tweaking self-isolation and testing requirements, as the country braces for up to 25,000 daily new cases of Covid-19 in the weeks ahead.

"It is very likely that the peak of the Omicron wave will exceed previous peaks seen in the Delta wave," said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce.

"If you look at the experience in other countries with the Omicron wave, they have an infection rate of about 400 infected persons per 100,000 persons. Now, if you translate that to Singapore's population, we are talking easily 20,000 to 25,000 infected cases a day," he said during a briefing on Friday (Jan 21).

Fellow co-chair and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong warned that a significant proportion of the workforce may be infected with Covid-19, leading to a high rate of absenteeism.

"If we have, for example, 15,000 cases a day, which is very possible, with each one of them out of action for an average of about 5 days, we are looking at some 75,000 workers absent due to Covid-19," Gan said, adding that the number could be higher if close contacts are included.

"Services may therefore be disrupted from time to time. This has been the experience of other countries and we cannot take it lightly," he warned.

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Gan urged businesses to put in place robust continuity plans to mitigate disruptions to operations, particularly those in the essential services.

Meanwhile, social gatherings and dine-in restrictions will be kept at 5 people, even as daily cases are set to continue rising into early February, during the Chinese New Year festivities, the taskforce said.

"The safe-management measures we have put in place will help to lower the risk of transmission and reduce the stress on our healthcare system," said Gan.

What will change, however, are the rules surrounding self-isolation and testing regimes for travellers.

The maximum isolation period for infected but fully vaccinated individuals will be reduced from 10 days to 7, given the shorter infectious period of the Omicron variant.

This applies to cases that fall under both protocols 1 and 2, as well as to children below 12.

Protocol 1 applies to positive cases who are unwell. Protocol 2 is for asymptomatic positive cases, who need to self-isolate for at least 72 hours and can exit isolation upon a negative test.

For unvaccinated individuals aged 12 and above, however, the maximum isolation period will remain at 14 days for both protocols.

Patients who are on Protocol 1 and are recovering well will now be allowed to transit smoothly to Protocol 2, which means they can potentially be discharged earlier.

"It's important for us to make this move because that way, we can handle this large wave without over-burdening the health response system, and then medical care can go to those who need them the most," said Health Minister and taskforce co-chair Ong Ye Kung.

Travellers using the vaccinated travel lanes (VTL) only need to do an unsupervised antigen rapid test (ART) from Day 2 to Day 7 of their arrival to Singapore if they are going out. This will kick in from Jan 23, 2359 hours. These travellers do not need to submit their ART results but must test negative before going out.

As for travellers who are fully vaccinated and recently recovered, they will be exempted from all testing and stay-home notice (SHN) requirements if they are able to provide appropriate documentary proof.

Travellers who are not fully vaccinated but have recently recovered - within 90 days of their last infection - will be exempted from pre-departure testing requirements, but will still be subjected to all other prevailing border measures.

There will also be a change to how Singapore reports its daily Covid-19 cases.

Ong noted that general practitioners (GP) have been empowered to order protocol 2 for infected asymptomatic patients, but such cases have not been included in the daily tally, which does not include self-tested ART positive cases.

"As it becomes increasingly evident that Omicron is a less severe disease than Delta, GPs also started to see more and more mild Omicron cases," said Ong.

While such GP-prescribed protocol 2 cases numbered about 100 to 200 on Jan 6, it rose quickly to about 400 to 500 cases a day last week, and over 1,000 cases a day this week.

"MOH has reviewed the situation and decided that it is better to include the GP protocol 2 cases in our daily updates on infection numbers. It will give a better picture of the epidemic situation in Singapore and which part of the curve we are on," Ong said.

However, he cautioned that this is "still not the full picture" because many cases with mild or no symptoms remain undetected.

Still, Wong said the focus is not on "headline infection numbers" but on the number who are severely ill or need care at the hospital or intensive care unit.

Noting that fully vaccinated individuals who are Omicron-positive have had milder cases than Delta, Wong said: "In that regard, we are hopeful that we can ride through this Omicron wave without having to tighten our measures."

READ MORE:

• Singapore shortens isolation period for Covid-infected, vaccinated individuals from 10 to 7 days
• Calibrated testing regimes for VTL travel and recently-recovered travellers