Release figures of daily Covid tests, triggers for clarity

I READ with interest Janice Heng's piece "How readable is the roadmap to endemic Covid-19?" (BT, Sept 8, 2021). It's a thoughtful and well-written commentary, with lots of good questions asked.

Can I suggest two more aspects that need asking about. The steadily rising cases per day is by itself of little use without mention of the number of tests done daily. If there are 200 new cases per day out of, say, 1,000 tested, that's a lot more significant than, say, 200 out of 5,000 tested.

I well remember the then Minister of Manpower saying last year that higher numbers tested result in more cases being identified. Is that the case with our increasing daily cases?

I also wonder what triggers a test? Is it done when one reports sick to a doctor, or when tracing people linked to new cases, or both? Whatever it is, the number of tests should be reported.

The second issue is the number of cases in intensive care and requiring oxygen. When these numbers decrease, is that because more cases are taken off this list than new ones added? And vice versa?

Surely, a more meaningful number is the number of cases added daily to these lists, as well as the number taken off the list because they no longer need such care.

I hope the authorities will consider providing these meaningful numbers.

Maurice de Vaz