On Tuesday, Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung announced that the current COVID-19 wave will not be as severe as the Omicron wave earlier this year (Jul 5).
Mr. Ong stated, in answer to a parliamentary question from MP Ang Wei Neng (PAP-West Coast) about the Government's response to the current wave of COVID-19 cases, that the authorities had expected this wave after learning about the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
He emphasized that these subvariants offer a "substantial growth advantage" over the older BA.2 subvariant.
"This wave, however, arrived slightly sooner than we anticipated in July and August," the Health Minister stated.
"According to our estimation, this current wave will not be as severe as the Omicron wave we witnessed earlier this year. This is due to the fact that many more of us have developed greater immunity through booster injections or through recovering from diseases, he explained.
This will hinder the circulation and transmission of the BA.4, BA.5 viruses greatly.
During the height of the previous Omicron wave, Singapore recorded over 18,000 new COVID-19 cases every day.
Tuesday's COVID-19 caseload is anticipated to exceed 12,000, a 10 percent increase over Tuesday of the previous week, he said, adding that Tuesday is "usually the day when cases surge up."
"There are indicators that we are at or near the top, and we should be glad that the figure did not quadruple from last week to this week. Otherwise, this week's total will be 24,000 or 22,000," he remarked.
Mr. Ang inquired about the proportion of recent COVID-19 infections caused by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in a follow-up query.
Mr. Ong stated that almost half of all current illnesses are caused by BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
"It has been doubling every week. Started at 3%, then rose to 5%, then 8%, then 16%, 30% last week, 50% this week, and I anticipate that it will be between 70% and 80% the next week. Compared to BA.2, this subtype is manifestly more prevalent.
In answer to a query from Yip Hon Weng (PAP-Chua Chu Kang) about whether healthcare settings are "adequately prepared" for the next wave, Mr. Ong stated that the key to handling the next wave is to ensure that Singapore's hospital capacity is "not overstretched."
He noted that this involves ensuring high vaccination and booster coverage, as well as ensuring that healthcare institutions and facilities are prepared to enhance capacity in the event of an increase in admissions.
Monday at noon, there were 631 patients hospitalized, 74 of whom required oxygen supplementation, and 14 were in the critical care unit.
Mr. Ong stated that our hospitals are prepared to expand the number of ICU and isolation beds should the number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospitalization grow.
In the COVID-19 treatment facilities, there are "sufficient beds" for serious cases that do not require hospital care, he added, adding that these facilities are around 25% full.
Mr. Ong stated that the facilities were "recently consolidated" from more than 2,000 beds to around 1,300 beds with a "greater staffing ratio." He stated that this facilitates the transition of patients from hospitals to the facilities without a "substantial reduction" in service quality.
Mr. Ong stated that public hospitals continue to confront "strong demand" from non-COVID-19 patients.
"Over time, we expect that more of our (COVID-19 treatment facilities) may serve as isolation and treatment facilities for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients," he added.
The COVID-19 treatment center at Sengkang Community Hospital has been "reconfigured" to this new paradigm, and the authorities will investigate the possibility of converting further facilities, according to the Health Minister.
In anticipation of the wave of illnesses, the government kept the indoor masking requirement even when the number of cases was "low and constant" in order to "modify the infection rate" when the next wave arrived.
"More strict safe management procedures will need to be applied if we still wish to lower the illness rate further. This necessitates the reinstatement of group sizes, capacity limitations, and masks outside, as stated by Mr. Ong.
"We cannot rule out these actions if we are struck by a severe infection wave, but we should avoid them as much as possible, particularly if we are pretty certain that our hospital capacity can hold up, and if we are resolved to live with COVID-19 and continue our march towards endemicity."
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