Prepare for long-term virus impact: Gan
Singapore
SINGAPORE needs to prepare to live with Covid-19 for a long time, and brace itself for significantly more new cases here as the number of those infected outside China continues to grow at "alarming rates", warned Health Minister Gan Kim Yong on Thursday.
"This is worrying, as they pose a high risk of importation of cases into Singapore," he said. "Even among our closest neighbours, the situation is also evolving. Therefore, it is likely that this disease will stay with us for a long time."
The warning comes as five new cases of the novel coronavirus were confirmed on Thursday, with a new cluster identified involving a private dinner function at Safra Jurong on Feb 15.
The nation will have to continuously adjust what it is doing to deal with the evolving situation so life can go on while appropriate precautions are put in place, Mr Gan told Parliament. As more countries face infections, it will become increasingly difficult to stop the virus at the borders, "as we cannot ban visitors from every country and shut ourselves out from the world", he said.
Singapore now has travel restrictions and advisories, temperature screening, contact tracing and quarantine. But every outbreak is different, he said in reply to queries from MPs on the effectiveness of strategies so far, and how to better prepare for the future. He said: "Even as we do our best to learn from each outbreak and prepare for the next, we must always expect the unexpected."
Measures will need to be adjusted for the possibility of a long-term outbreak, as it may take some time for effective vaccines and treatments to become available.
What is critical is the ability "to mount a swift and effective response". This will require a whole-of-government approach and mobilise the resources of all the relevant agencies. This way, those fighting the outbreak will be able to "assess, decide and execute our response quickly", he said.
To preserve the trust between the people and the government, which is essential in the fight against Covid-19, the minister noted: "It is important to be transparent and share the information we know as soon as possible."
He added that it is equally crucial to counter and respond decisively to fake news "to avoid diversion of our resources and prevent disruptions to our efforts". He assured MPs that healthcare workers here are trained to deal with the outbreak and have been provided with personal protective equipment so they can stay safe.
Of the five new cases announced Thursday, the Health Ministry says four are linked to the Safra cluster. The imported case is a traveller on a Turkish Airlines flight that arrived in Singapore on Tuesday.
The ministry says two more patients have recovered, taking the number to 81 who have fully recovered from the infection and discharged from hospital. Of the 36 confirmed cases still in hospital, most are stable or improving. Seven are in critical condition.
Mr Gan praised the SG Clean campaign to raise public hygiene standards for picking up momentum, as that is an important effort in the fight against the spread of the virus.
He thanked Singaporeans for their cooperation and support for the measures implemented "without which our efforts will not be effective".
He said: "We must continue the good practices that have proven effective in reducing the spread of infectious diseases - such as staying home when unwell and during the period covered by medical certificate, and practising good personal hygiene. We should also maintain high hygiene standards in our hawker centres and public toilets."
"This will strengthen our collective resilience against Covid-19 as well as other infectious diseases, while going about our daily lives as much as possible." THE STRAITS TIMES
