Ong Ye Kung and Janil Puthucheary on COVID-19 situation in Singapore
The current COVID-19 wave driven by Omicron subvariant BA.5 should subside further this week, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told Parliament on Monday (Aug 1). He noted that Singapore has been coping better with each wave of the virus. The proportion of infected people needing hospitalisation, the business-as-usual workload that hospitals have needed to cut down on and absenteeism among hospital staff have all fallen compared with the previous Omicron wave earlier this year. While 60 per cent of Singapore residents are likely to have been infected with COVID-19 at some point, Mr Ong said this does not mean the country has herd immunity. This is because experts do not think herd immunity is achievable as the virus will continue to mutate. The minister also said the reinfection rate in Singapore has been low but is likely to rise in future as protection from previous infections wanes. Singapore will start reporting “infection episodes” rather than infected persons, to give a more accurate picture of the pandemic situation. Meanwhile, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary gave the update that COVID-19 vaccination booster doses for children aged five to 11 will be rolled out in about two months’ time. Dr Janil and Mr Ong were responding to MPs’ questions.
The current COVID-19 wave driven by Omicron subvariant BA.5 should subside further this week, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told Parliament on Monday (Aug 1). He noted that Singapore has been coping better with each wave of the virus. The proportion of infected people needing hospitalisation, the business-as-usual workload that hospitals have needed to cut down on and absenteeism among hospital staff have all fallen compared with the previous Omicron wave earlier this year. While 60 per cent of Singapore residents are likely to have been infected with COVID-19 at some point, Mr Ong said this does not mean the country has herd immunity. This is because experts do not think herd immunity is achievable as the virus will continue to mutate. The minister also said the reinfection rate in Singapore has been low but is likely to rise in future as protection from previous infections wanes. Singapore will start reporting “infection episodes” rather than infected persons, to give a more accurate picture of the pandemic situation. Meanwhile, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary gave the update that COVID-19 vaccination booster doses for children aged five to 11 will be rolled out in about two months’ time. Dr Janil and Mr Ong were responding to MPs’ questions.
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