According to Minister of Health (MOH) Ong Ye Kung, there is no need to impose any further measures, such as a mandate for wearing face masks, as in the most recent wave, COVID-19 cases in Singapore has peaked.
“We might have a slight surge, but I think more or less, we are seeing the peak of this wave,” Channel News Asia quoted Ong as saying on Friday at the soft opening of a health campus at Woodlands in northern Singapore.
The minister did point out that the 600–700 hospital beds that COVID-19 patients occupy put a significant burden on the system.
“The indications are that we have plateaued,” he said, pointing out that the estimated numbers of infections have decreased over the past few days.
Hospitalization and the need for critical care, according to experts, always follow infections. Infections have been increasing for the past four weeks, going from 10,726 in the week of November 12–18 to 58,300 in the week of December 10–16.
“We have to remember that severe cases will typically peak after the mild cases peak, so even if the peak cases have already come, we may need to wait a while before the impact on the healthcare system starts to get better,” warned Associate Professor Alex Cook of the National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.
“Just because the cases dipped does not yet mean the wave has peaked, and the wave isn’t over until cases have come down again,” The Straits Times quoted Cook as saying, as per PTI.
While acknowledging that there will be chances of the virus to spread over the Christmas and New Year holidays, Minister Ong urged Singaporeans to take personal responsibility by staying at home when ill, wearing masks, and staying up to date on vaccinations.
As per PTI, the seven-day moving average estimated daily number of COVID-19 cases in Singapore has been dropping in recent days, decreasing from 7,730 on December 17 to 6,820 the following day and then 6,530 cases on December 19.
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