Covid-19 wave possibly peaked; mask mandate not necessary: Ong Ye Kung
[IMG alt="Pedestrians along Orchard Road on Dec 20, 2023."]https://onecms-res.cloudinary.com/i...k_crowd_generics-4.jpg?itok=RUh0VNlm[/IMG]Lim Li Ting/TODAY
Pedestrians along Orchard Road on Dec 20, 2023.
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BY
NG HONG SIANG
Published December 22, 2023Updated December 22, 2023
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SINGAPORE — The latest wave of Covid-19 cases in Singapore has possibly peaked, and there is no need for extra measures such as a mask mandate to be implemented, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said on Friday (Dec 22).
However, having about 600 to 700 hospital beds taken up by Covid-19 patients is quite a strain on the system, he noted at the soft opening of the Woodlands Health Campus.
"We are a 10,000-bed-strong system. To take up 600 or 700 beds, it's 6 or 7 per cent, which is not small. It's a significant workload on our healthcare workers and our system.
"Nevertheless, I think our assessment remains... that we can withstand this without additional safe management measures," he added.
Mr Ong also said that the estimated infection numbers have come down over the past few days.
"The indications are that we have plateaued."
He acknowledged, though, that the upcoming Christmas and new year holidays will bring chances for the coronavirus to spread.
"We might have a slight surge, but I think more or less, we are seeing the peak of this wave."
He encouraged people here to exercise personal responsibility by wearing a mask when sick and staying at home and continuing to be up to date with vaccinations.
The number of new Covid-19 hospitalisations in Singapore jumped to 965 in the past week, up from 763 the week before that, with those admitted to intensive care units (ICU) going up from 23 to 32 in the same period.
These were the highest numbers of new weekly hospitalisation and ICU admission for Covid-19 patients this year so far.
The estimated daily number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore on a seven-day moving average has been dropping in recent days, decreasing from 7,730 on Dec 17 to 6,820 the following day and then 6,530 cases on Dec 19.
A seven-day moving average is used to smooth out daily fluctuations and show a more accurate infection trend.
"Healthcare utilisation indicators such as hospitalised and ICU cases typically lag behind the estimated weekly number of infections," the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on its website.
"This is due to the time taken for symptoms to develop in Covid-19 patients."
With the recent spike in Covid-19 cases here, MOH last week strongly urged the public to wear a mask in crowded places even if they are not sick, as it announced the building of a second Covid-19 treatment facility located at Singapore Expo Hall 10 in Changi.
MOH also announced that starting Dec 19, it will be giving daily updates on Covid-19 cases on its website to provide the latest information during this period.
MOH's figures on Thursday showed that the average daily hospitalised cases recorded were the highest for the year by far. The 560 cases were up from 350 cases the earlier week before that and 225 the week before that.
Average daily ICU cases followed the same pattern, rising to 13 cases from nine the week before that and four a fortnight ago. CNA
