'Decisive' fall in local community cases key to circuit breaker rollback

Singapore

WHILE the daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Singapore has started to ease, authorities are looking for a "decisive reduction" in local community transmission before moving to relax enhanced circuit breaker measures.

"The trend is indeed improving, but we want to be sure that there is a decisive reduction in local community transmission before we make any moves to relax the circuit breaker measures, be it on May 4 or after that," Lawrence Wong, National Development Minister and co-chair of a multi-ministry task force (MTF), said at a virtual press conference on Tuesday evening.

Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a four-week extension to Singapore's circuit breaker to June 1, while further paring down the list of essential businesses until at least May 4.

Mr Wong said they will be watching over the next few days how the numbers will pan out before coming to a decision.

He added that the numbers reported daily are sometimes also a result of the extensive testing that they are carrying out, particularly in vulnerable areas like nursing homes. This is why 14 of the 18 cases within the community reported on Monday were linked to Acacia Home, a welfare home for destitute people.

"As we do these active testing and sweeping of cases, I would not be surprised if we find more cases," Mr Wong said.

Calling such cases "cryptic or hidden cases", Mr Wong said they are not presenting themselves in the system because most of them are mild or asymptomatic.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 528 new Covid-19 cases, pushing the tally to 14,951. The vast majority of the new cases are migrant workers living in dormitories, with 10 cases within the community, comprising 7 Singaporeans and PRs, 2 work pass holders and one visit pass holder.

"Short of very extensive testing, today's infection rate that we are seeing in the general population may be lower than the actual infection rate because as we said, there may be unlinked cases, very mild cases where people think it's just a normal cough and cold or flu," he said, adding that they can only know better with more extensive testing, which is what the task force hopes to do.

While polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests are the predominant tests used, Kenneth Mak, director of medical services at MOH, said the authorities are exploring the use of other tests, including serology tests to look for the presence of antibodies. "We haven't actually implemented it just yet, but in fact, we're very close to making a decision as to whether or not we can use these tests," he said.

In the meantime, the task force is looking to more than double Singapore's capacity to isolate and care for milder Covid-19 cases, by adding 23,000 more bed spaces to the existing 18,000 by end-June. These beds will be outside of hospitals.

Patients will also be categorised according to their needs, as the majority are mild cases that do not require as much medical attention.

So far, about 30 per cent of the patients require closer medical observation due to underlying health conditions or because of old age, Gan Kim Yong, Health Minister and co-chair of the multi-ministry task force, said.

There are four types of facilities.

Patients awaiting results of a swab test will be housed at Swab Isolation Facilities, which currently have 4,000 beds, with 3,000 in the pipeline.

Dorm Isolation Facilities offer 2,600 beds for patients who have tested negative for Covid-19 but may have other illnesses and thus need to be isolated for up to five days to prevent spread of those illnesses.

The 10,000 beds at Community Care Facilities - meant for those with mild symptoms and lower risk factors - such as D'Resort, Singapore Expo and Changi Exhibition Centre will be doubled by mid-June.

Community Recovery Facilities are for those who are well on day 14 of the illness and do not require further medical care. These will be expanded from 2,000 bed spaces to 10,000 by end-June.

Manpower is also getting a boost, with some 3,000 healthcare professionals across all job groups signing up to join the SG Healthcare Corps, which was launched on April 7.

Mr Gan said his ministry will expand SG Healthcare Corps to include non-healthcare professionals, adding that they are planning to redeploy manpower from industries affected by Covid-19 to take on new roles in hospitals.