Latest COVID-19 wave has peaked, although patient loads remain high: Clinics
Clinics are, however, already planning for more manpower and medication supply, in anticipation of another surge in the months ahead.
Doctors in Singapore believe the latest COVID-19 wave has peaked, even as some clinics still face higher than usual patient loads. But clinics are already planning for more manpower and medication supplies, in anticipation of another surge in the months ahead.
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SINGAPORE: Doctors in Singapore believe the latest COVID-19 wave has peaked, even as some clinics still face higher than usual patient loads.
They are seeing cases stabilise, down by some 20 per cent from a high in December.
However, clinics are already planning for more manpower and medication supplies, in anticipation of another surge in the months ahead.
DOCTORS WATCHING OUT FOR POSSIBLE SURGES
Healthway Medical, for instance, now sees an average of 50 to 60 patients come in daily with respiratory infections across its 57 clinics.
COVID-19 and influenza cases make up the bulk of them.
This is some 10 per cent higher than regular patient loads, but a slight drop from the peak around Christmas.
“The peak of all the upper respiratory tract infection cases has plateaued. Majority of people have already returned from travelling,” said Dr John Cheng, head of primary care at Healthway Medical Group.
“Most of our clinics actually had enough buffer for all the acute and upper respiratory tract infections… to cater for a sudden surge of patient numbers.”
Clinics typically anticipate increased patient volumes, especially during the December period, he added.
“For the end of the year, there will definitely be a surge. And then, most of the time, during festive seasons, during holidays - with more and more people interacting, more travellers (travelling) in and out - we will be expecting some surges during those periods.”
OneCare Medical is also seeing the number of cases stabilise across its 38 clinics. It said cases are less likely to go up significantly again in the near term.
“We feel that the ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) has already peaked, so we should see the numbers stabilise and probably slowly come down over the next few weeks, back to the usual baseline numbers,” said Dr Jimmy Chew, CEO of OneCare Medical.
“Of course, if the weather continues to be quite cold, and there continues to be a lot of circulating strains of ARI pathogens, then perhaps we might still see the numbers being sustained.”
Doctors are watching out for possible surges in the coming months.
“With Chinese New Year coming up, there will still be ongoing gatherings. And of course, there are still some travellers travelling, especially those who want to take advantage of the off-peak season,” said Dr Chew.
“There might still probably be a bit of infectious diseases still ongoing. But of course, hopefully, we have already seen the peak of ARI cases, so that we will observe a downward trend in the coming weeks.”
PREPARING RESOURCES IN ADVANCE
To tackle such possibilities, clinics are stocking up on resources in advance.
Clinic chain Unihealth orders about 30 per cent more medication than usual when they anticipate a surge.
The group is keeping its guard up, despite COVID-19 cases being down by about 20 to 30 per cent this week across its three clinics.
“I think we need to keep a close surveillance of the situation. So, medication wise, we tend to stock up more prior to the expectation of this peak,” said Dr Daniel Soong, medical director at Unihealth Clinic.
“(For) manpower, if we notice that there is an increase in cases and caseloads, we might deploy more manpower in our clinic itself to ease off the waiting time for the patients.”
