Singapore's new wave of Covid-19 infections 'happening faster than expected': Lawrence Wong

SINGAPORE'S new wave of Covid-19 cases has yet to peak, and all countries that have opened up have also had to deal with such fresh waves, the government's Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce (MTF) said on Friday.

"For us, it is happening faster than we had expected, and it's also the first time since our (reopening) that we are facing such a new exponential wave of infection in our community," said Finance Minister and taskforce co-chair Lawrence Wong.

"Very soon, we will reach 1,000 new cases a day, and in a few weeks' time, we will probably get to 2,000 new cases a day."

Health Minister and fellow co-chair Ong Ye Kung said based on the experience of countries in Europe, a transmission wave may take four to eight weeks to peak, with daily cases doubling every 10 days, making for about four to five doubling cycles.

Singapore is now 18 days into the wave which began on Aug 23, with daily cases having already doubled twice and on the way to a third doubling - from 400 to 800, he noted.

"This rapid and exponential rise in daily infections that we are experiencing now is what every country that seeks to live with Covid-19 has had to go through at some point," Mr Ong said.

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He added that Singapore has always wanted to "go through it differently" in two major ways - with as few deaths as possible and without a hard lockdown.

"A key imperative is to get our healthcare protocols readjusted, in fact, reconfigured, and we need to shift decisively to cope with a much larger number of infections based on the characteristics of the delta variant," he said.

This points to four major changes, with more resources focused on vulnerable settings and large clusters and automatic quarantine orders for household members of infected patients. Quarantine periods will be shortened while infected individuals could be discharged  earlier if they test negative. Home recovery will now be default for young and healthy fully-vaccinated individuals who do not live with vulnerable persons.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s booster programme for seniors aged 60 and above as well as immunocompromised persons will begin on Sept 15.

Given the rapidly changing infection situation, Mr Wong said a more cautious approach is needed.

Despite the escalating case numbers, there is no need to return to a "heightened alert" or "circuit breaker" at this juncture, he said.

"Our actions have been guided by data and evidence, and based on the advice of our medical and scientific experts, and the collective view of the MTF and our experts is this," said Mr Wong.

At the same time, the taskforce does not think it is prudent to press ahead with any opening measures, as it would be "reckless" under current circumstances, he added.

"Our position is we believe it is more prudent to take a pause now, do our best to slow down the spread where we can, and then monitor closely what happens to our ICU situation over the next two to four weeks," said Mr Wong.

Mr Ong said the government is also ramping up healthcare facilities to handle about 1,000 infections, with drawer plans to make further changes to handle beyond that number.

He said while there is sufficient capacity to accommodate 1,000 ICU cases, "really, we don’t want to go anywhere near because to reach there, you seriously degrade hospital services".

Mr Wong added that one should not underestimate exponential growth: "Don't be lulled by 'seven cases in ICU and therefore we've got so much head room'. Exponential growth can change the situation in a few weeks' time."

The difference between now and a few months ago is, he said, a much higher vaccination rate today at about 81 per cent.

Still, there are also countries with high vaccination rates that have experienced fresh waves of infection despite their best preparations.

"That's why we are asking everyone to exercise restraint during this period, scale back on non-essential social activities, get tested regularly and let's all do our part to try and slow down the spread of the virus," said Mr Wong.

READ MORE:

• Shorter quarantine, home recovery as default for more as Singapore changes protocols in face of rising Covid-19 cases

• Singapore to start Covid-19 vaccine boosters in mid-September for at-risk groups

• Singapore steps up testing as Covid-19 cases double in a week