SINGAPORE: The rapid rise in COVID-19 cases is “of concern” and putting “serious strain” on hospital resources despite the shift to community and home care, said co-chair of the multi-ministry task force Gan Kim Yong on Friday (Sep 24).
To ensure that the healthcare system can continue to cope with these cases, Singapore has to take action to slow the rise in cases to protect the hospital system, he added.
Dining-in at F&B outlets and social gatherings will be reduced to groups of two from next Monday. Home-based learning for those in primary school and special education schools will be extended to Oct 7.
Work from home will also now be the default. Fully vaccinated people aged 50 to 59 who finished their vaccination regimen at least six months ago will be invited to take their booster shots from Oct 4, the task force announced.
Speaking at a press conference, Mr Gan noted that Singapore has seen a sharp increase in the number of local cases since two weeks ago, almost reaching 1,600 cases a day.
“If the trend continues, the number of cases is likely to double to 3,200 a day by next week, and may even increase beyond that,” he added.
Singapore is also keeping a close watch on the number of serious COVID-19 cases, said Mr Gan.
While the number of serious cases is “still manageable” now, it takes about a week to 10 days or more for positive cases to show complications, he added.
“If positive cases continue to rise rapidly, we will expect to see the number of serious cases rise also. In fact, we are already starting to see a rise in the number of persons requiring oxygen, admission into ICU and deaths, mostly from cases infected some weeks ago,” said Mr Gan, who is also the Trade and Industry Minister.
“While we watch ICU cases, the rapidly increasing number of new cases is also of concern, as it is creating a serious strain on our hospital resources, despite the shift to community and home care. To ensure our healthcare system can continue to cope with these cases, we will need to take action to slow the rise in cases to protect our hospital system.”