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Minister of Health, Ong Ye Kung, said today (12 Feb) that reaching five figures of positive cases on certain days is not something that is unexpected and is within expectations.
This comes after the recent spike in cases.
The Minister added that the Omicron variant has a higher transmission rate and reaching 15,000 or even 20,000 cases is ‘within expectations’.
At the current situation, the cases are around 10,000 a day which the Minister says that it is still comfortable.
Impact on healthcare takes precedence
The Minister continued his statement by saying that the ‘top line’, referring to the epidemic’s curve, is not as important as than the viruses’ impact on the capacity of the healthcare system in Singapore, though it is important to know where we are in the fight against the pandemic.
Despite the recent spike in cases, Minister Ong said that the healthcare system in Singapore is still doing well in managing the situation.
This is because the figures have remained unchanged or low, with the amount of people requiring supplementary oxygen maintaining at 0.3 percent, patients who require intensive care or have passed on have is at about 0.05 percent.
These figures are much lower than previously when dealing with the Delta variant.
Most cases with little or no symptoms
Minister Ong added that although the figures that visit the GPs have gone up, most of them have little to no symptoms.
Many visit the GPs for the purpose of getting memos to certified that they are able to return to school or work and there are also many who wants to get MC so that they do not have to go to school or work.
Some also go there as a means to get ART kits.
Minister Ong ended by saying that there will be a press conference held by the Multi-Ministry Task Force soon about whether there will be changes made to the current pandemic measures.
Image source: Google Maps, Ong Ye Kung/Facebook