While plans to reinstate the mask-wearing rule were shelved after the Covid-19 XBB wave subsided "much earlier than expected," Health Minister Ong Ye Kung stated on Monday (Oct. 31) that the public should anticipate the reinstatement of certain infection controls and regulations in the event of a new and more severe infection wave.
Mr. Ong disclosed at the HMI Institute's 20th anniversary and commencement event that the government was on the verge of requiring people to wear masks again owing to the recent increase in cases caused by the coronavirus strain XBB.
"For the XBB wave, the multi-ministry task force was prepared to reimpose indoor masking and maybe vaccination-specific safe management measures if the situation deteriorated," he added.
We can suspend our contingency measures, at least for the time being, because the infection levels peaked and fell far sooner than anticipated.
Nonetheless, he cautioned that Singaporeans must be prepared for the return of some infection controls should new strains of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus emerge, which may be "recombinants of current subvariants."
One cannot assume that all new virus variants will share the same properties, such as easier transmission and milder symptoms.
Mr. Ong stated, "It is a random process of nature, and a new recombinant variety might always acquire the features of a parent virus that cause more severe diseases."
He noted that the nation's economic recovery and status as a global center and open economy "makes us vulnerable, as we might be one of the first cities to feel a new and severe strain."
"We cannot thus afford to be complacent. We must be prepared for a virulent infection wave and make the required preparations."
Mr. Ong urged senior citizens to maintain their immunizations since they are more prone to get serious diseases when infected with Covid-19.
He noted that in the past month, two of every one hundred sick individuals aged 70 or older who were not properly immunized died or required extensive medical treatment.
Mr. Ong stated that around 53,000 persons had received the updated bivalent vaccination to date.
In a few weeks, the Ministry of Health will provide bivalent vaccinations to younger age groups.
Mr. Ong reported a rise in the number of people seeking medical care for illnesses unrelated to Covid.
This might be because the pandemic has disturbed their care for non-Covid-19 medical problems or chronic diseases, they have stopped taking their prescriptions, or infection with Covid-19 has prompted a deterioration of their chronic illnesses weeks later.
Mr. Ong stated that hospitals in this region have implemented measures such as encouraging non-emergency cases to visit general practitioner clinics or urgent care centres instead of hospital emergency departments and providing additional care to patients who remain in emergency departments for at least four hours.
Mr. Ong stated, "We can all do our lot to support our healthcare personnel by limiting our visits to emergency departments to life-threatening situations and by receiving our Covid-19 vaccinations, which will dramatically minimize the likelihood of us being extremely ill if infected."
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