The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the major topics at this year’s G-20 summit. In Singapore, that shift has ushered in a surge of coronavirus infections, npr.
The Endemic stage
Singapore has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates at 82%, yet cases of COVID-19 are skyrocketing from just double digits in August to well over 3,000 cases a day now.
“We’re allowing endemicity”, Dale Fisher, National University Hospital .
Endemicity or endemic disease refers to the constant presence or prevalence of a disease in a population, like influenza in the United States or dengue in Asia, where there’s a certain amount of disease each year.
Living with coronavirus
Recognizing that the coronavirus is not going anywhere, Fisher says Singapore has decided to coexist with COVID-19 and not try to eliminate it. He says the 88,000 new cases in the last month are the result of that change in strategy.
Vaccine is not very good at preventing transmission
98% of new cases are mild enough for patients to recover at home, leaving hospitals to focus on the seriously ill. Singapore’s experience teaches that the vaccine is not very good at preventing transmission. But it is maintaining its capacity to prevent severe disease and ICU and deaths.
Only a tiny fraction of Singapore’s cases wind up in the ICU, and they are mostly the elderly. In fact, senior citizens remain the most vexing problem as transmission rapidly spreads. They are more susceptible to bad outcomes, and a considerable number remain unvaccinated.
Because the reality is these are the people that, through their decisions, are putting the strain on the health system and actually slowing down the opening up.
Zero COVID strategy
China is one of the last remaining countries pursuing a zero COVID strategy. Australia and New Zealand are grappling with how best to open up safely. Singapore has pushed open the border, allowing travelers from a small group of countries, including the U.S., to enter.
When restrictions on indoor dining were peeled back, infections soared.
Singapore’s health experts say exiting the pandemic will mean a carefully calibrated lifting of lids and laying them back on again as needed. Fisher says it may take another year or two. Meanwhile, he says don’t expect a Singapore version of the U.K.’s Freedom Day, where almost all COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free! Click here to Subscribe
Source: npr
