In a recent statement, Singapore’s Minister of Health, Ong Ye Kung, addressed the current surge in COVID-19 cases in the country, providing insights into the situation and outlining strategies to navigate the challenges.
He allayed fears that the worst is still to come, assuring the people that we are already seeing the peak of the current Covid wave, hence no mandatory wearing of masks is required at the moment.
Post-COVID Scenario
Minister Ong began by acknowledging the global increase in patient loads post-COVID, particularly affecting older individuals whose health may have deteriorated during the pandemic. Despite officially exiting the pandemic and entering DORSCON Green in February, Singapore, like many parts of the world, is grappling with the enduring impact of COVID-19 on healthcare systems.
Three Waves in 2023
Highlighting the timeline of events, Minister Ong noted three waves of COVID-19 in Singapore this year. The first occurred at the beginning of the year, followed by a second wave dominated by the HK.3 and EG.5 variants in October. Before the second wave subsided, a new wave, propelled by the JN.1 variant, emerged.
Current Status and Healthcare System Strain
Minister Ong reported a recent plateau in estimated infection numbers, indicating a potential peak in the current wave. However, with Christmas and New Year celebrations approaching, a slight surge is anticipated. Approximately 600 hospital beds are currently occupied by COVID-19 patients, constituting a significant workload on the 10,000-bed healthcare system.
Managing the Situation
Despite the strain, Minister Ong expressed confidence in Singapore’s ability to withstand the current situation without implementing additional safe management measures. He emphasized the importance of personal responsibility, urging individuals to wear masks when sick, stay at home, and continue getting vaccinated, particularly for seniors and those with underlying illnesses.
Snippet of Ong Ye Kung’s Speech
On COVID-19. In February this year, we came out of the COVID-19 pandemic officially and entered DORSCON Green. Post-COVID, patient loads have increased everywhere around the world. Older people are becoming more sick. I think during the three years of the pandemic, their health probably deteriorated. It is not just us but everywhere in the world. We all suffer from long COVID-19 as a healthcare system.
Post-COVID, the hospitals are getting a lot busier. COVID never really goes away. It is endemic, which means we will have to live with it. We had three waves this year. The first wave happened at the beginning of the year. The second wave happened in October, and was dominated by two variants HK.3 and EG.5. Before that wave subsided, a new wave was stacked on it, which was driven by another variant called JN.1.
In recent days, we have been reporting very high estimated infection numbers, but probably the actual numbers are much higher. The indications are that we have plateaued. For the past few days, the estimated infection numbers have come down so I think we have plateaued. However, we are coming to Christmas and New Year with lots of celebrations, family dinners and parties. We might have a slight surge, but more or less we are seeing the peak of this wave.
All in all, about 600 of our hospital beds are taken up by COVID-19 patients. About 10 to 20 ICU beds are taken, which is not high. For hospital beds, 600 or 700 hospital beds are quite a drain on our system which is a 10,000-bed strong system. To take up 600, 700 beds, at 6% or 7%, is not small. It is a significant workload on our healthcare workers and system. Nevertheless, I think our assessment remains that we can wear through this. We can withstand this.
There have been many members of the public who have written to me to say that many of their friends have been infected with COVID-19 and it is time to change the rules and impose mandatory mask wearing, especially on public transport. I have always assured people that in Singapore, when we have to implement a measure, we will do so if it is necessary. But for this wave, where we are now, based on the impact and the burden on our healthcare system, I think we can withstand this without additional safe management measures.
But we appeal to everyone: when you are sick, wear a mask and stay at home. If you have to come into contact with someone, wear a mask. Very importantly, continue to take your vaccinations once a year, especially if you are a senior or if you have underlying illnesses and are vulnerable. Whatever vaccine you have taken will wear off in about one to one-and-a half years. It is important you get it renewed because your antidote does not last forever.
To help with vaccinations, I think we need a new strategy. We have been relying on Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres (JTVC). There are eight or nine around the island and gradually we are reducing to maybe five sometime next year. But I think at this stage, when people feel that COVID-19 is endemic and is part and parcel of life, not many people would want to purposely go to a big centre to get themselves vaccinated.
I think we need to rely on the GPs. Today, we have a couple hundred of GPs who administer COVID vaccinations. We have to work hard to increase that number and then put it as part of Healthier SG so that we roll it out very actively to as many seniors as we can, to get our vaccinations up. Next year, if we have another wave and we will, we will be much more prepared.
I should make one more point about COVID, which is that we have finally completed a very long process of awarding all our COVID heroes. As you know, this is a crisis of a generation. It is a concerted national effort because so many people were involved. We have conferred recognition and awards to over 110,000 people, many of whom are healthcare workers. All of them are heroes who have worked together to help us overcome this crisis.
Unfortunately, we hear of news that people are selling their medals. I think it is a very small minority. I will say this: It is wrong to sell your medals. It is with great appreciation and respect that we selected the names and conferred the medals on these deserving people. Therefore we hope too, that you reciprocate the respect and cherish the medal and the recognition. There are others who wrote in too. Some are individual doctors or nurses who wrote in to say that I have contributed but somehow, I was left out. We will look into these cases. As you know, we try to be as inclusive as possible in recognising this national effort and everyone involved in this national effort. Over 110,000 recipients – that is how inclusive we have been.
We had a nomination process. We had an appeal process and one appeal after another, trying to include as many as possible. It is possible that we missed out some and if we do, that exercise is over but we will try our best to make it up as much as possible. There is however one anonymous group who apparently are doctors in isolation wards. They have claimed that they have also been missed out. But they are anonymous so I do invite them to please give us your names and the hospital you worked in, and we will certainly look at your cases objectively.
On manpower, we set out this year to recruit 4,000 healthcare workers, nurses in particular – 3,000 for the public sector and 1,000 for the private sector. It is important because we are expanding our facilities and healthcare capacity, and we need manpower to be able to operate them. It also makes up for the nurses that we lost during the pandemic due to international competition. I would say the number needs time to finalise, but I am very confident that we will exceed our target this year of 4,000 nurses. It is a very good encouraging sign that shows that Singapore is a place where people are willing to join healthcare and foreign nurses are also willing to work in Singapore, working side by side with our local nurses. We will continue this effort and not back down.
And finally, we are doing a lot more to expand our capacity. This year we opened two new polyclinics, one in Tampines North and one here in Sembawang. Next year, there will be more. All in all, by 2030, we hope to have more than 30 polyclinics. Hospitals take a longer time to build but painstakingly, after a lot of the hard work, we are seeing the first signs of expanding capacity and it starts here in the Woodlands Health Campus.
