Ong Ye Kung on staying vigilant after COVID-19 peak
The COVID-19 wave in Singapore peaked about two weeks ago, at an estimated 4,000 infections per day. It has subsided to about 3,000 infections per day. The key strains circulating are XBB.1.9, XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3. Each accounted for about a quarter of all infections. There is no evidence, internationally or locally, that any of the variants has a clear growth advantage over the others or can lead to more cases of severe illnesses. The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the characteristics of the variants closely. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung gave this update in reply to MPs’ questions in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9). He said there are more than 300 patients infected with COVID-19 in hospital. It is a fraction of the hospitalisations at the peak of the pandemic crisis but it still added significant workload to the hospitals. Mr Ong said the number of COVID-19 hospitalisations should be falling in the coming weeks. “This is the first infection wave we have encountered after transiting to Dorscon Green and treating COVID-19 as an endemic disease. We have weathered through it, without imposing any further public health measures,” he said. “It is of critical importance that we understand that COVID-19 did not become a milder disease because we transit to Dorscon Green … In fact, it remains a dangerous disease but our population resilience has strengthened due to vaccinations, boosters and safe recovery from infections. These are the reasons that enabled us to treat it as an endemic disease,” said Mr Ong. He stressed the need to get vaccinated and raised concerns that the proportion of seniors aged 60 and above who are updated with their vaccinations has been declining, from 58 per cent in the beginning of this year, to 50 per cent currently. “If this trend continues, our resilience against COVID-19 will weaken over time, making ourselves vulnerable to the virus again,” he said. Turning to myocarditis, Mr Ong said this is a known illness associated with infections, including by the COVID-19 virus. It can also occur, albeit at a lower probability, when taking COVID-19 vaccines and tends to affect young males aged 12 to 30, he added. The local incidence of vaccine-related myocarditis in this age group is very low at about one in 100,000 doses and is even lower at 0.1 in 100,000 doses with the latest bivalent mRNA formulations, said Mr Ong. As of Apr 27 this year, out of more than 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Singapore, there were 160 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis linked to the vaccines. As of Apr 27 this year, about 340 Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme applications are cardiology-related. Of these, 81 were approved. At present, COVID-19 vaccines are not known to be causally associated with any other cardiac conditions other than myocarditis, said Mr Ong.
The COVID-19 wave in Singapore peaked about two weeks ago, at an estimated 4,000 infections per day. It has subsided to about 3,000 infections per day. The key strains circulating are XBB.1.9, XBB.1.16 and XBB.2.3. Each accounted for about a quarter of all infections. There is no evidence, internationally or locally, that any of the variants has a clear growth advantage over the others or can lead to more cases of severe illnesses. The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the characteristics of the variants closely. Health Minister Ong Ye Kung gave this update in reply to MPs’ questions in Parliament on Tuesday (May 9). He said there are more than 300 patients infected with COVID-19 in hospital. It is a fraction of the hospitalisations at the peak of the pandemic crisis but it still added significant workload to the hospitals. Mr Ong said the number of COVID-19 hospitalisations should be falling in the coming weeks. “This is the first infection wave we have encountered after transiting to Dorscon Green and treating COVID-19 as an endemic disease. We have weathered through it, without imposing any further public health measures,” he said. “It is of critical importance that we understand that COVID-19 did not become a milder disease because we transit to Dorscon Green … In fact, it remains a dangerous disease but our population resilience has strengthened due to vaccinations, boosters and safe recovery from infections. These are the reasons that enabled us to treat it as an endemic disease,” said Mr Ong. He stressed the need to get vaccinated and raised concerns that the proportion of seniors aged 60 and above who are updated with their vaccinations has been declining, from 58 per cent in the beginning of this year, to 50 per cent currently. “If this trend continues, our resilience against COVID-19 will weaken over time, making ourselves vulnerable to the virus again,” he said. Turning to myocarditis, Mr Ong said this is a known illness associated with infections, including by the COVID-19 virus. It can also occur, albeit at a lower probability, when taking COVID-19 vaccines and tends to affect young males aged 12 to 30, he added. The local incidence of vaccine-related myocarditis in this age group is very low at about one in 100,000 doses and is even lower at 0.1 in 100,000 doses with the latest bivalent mRNA formulations, said Mr Ong. As of Apr 27 this year, out of more than 17 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Singapore, there were 160 reports of myocarditis and pericarditis linked to the vaccines. As of Apr 27 this year, about 340 Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme applications are cardiology-related. Of these, 81 were approved. At present, COVID-19 vaccines are not known to be causally associated with any other cardiac conditions other than myocarditis, said Mr Ong.
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