The Government’s current assessment is that Singapore is able to ride through the new Omicron wave based on the current posture for now, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
“In other words, we do not need to tighten our safe management measures at this stage,” he told reporters after touring a mobile vaccination centre in Nee Soon Central with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on June 27, 2022.
However, he added that the Government is monitoring the “highly fluid” situation and adjustments to the SMMs will be made if need be.
“This includes the infection trajectory over the coming weeks, severity, as well as our hospital situation. And if need be, we will have to make adjustments. For now, we think we don’t need any tightening of measures, we do not have to tap on the brakes. But as we all know, it’s always a highly fluid and dynamic situation,” DPM Wong told ST.
He added that the recent surge in cases is mainly driven by the newer Omicron subvariants known as BA.4 and BA.5.
DPM Wong, also the co-chair of the multi-ministry taskforce, added that cases will continue to rise in the coming weeks.
“We must expect cases to continue rising in the coming weeks. Fortunately, there is no evidence of increased severity with this subvariant and the overall hospitalisation situation remains stable,” he said.
Every household will also receive 10 ART kits sometime next month.
Crucial for seniors to be boosted
One of Singapore’s key strategies in combating the pandemic is getting the population vaccinated.
And thanks to the deep trust between citizens and Government, the Covid-19 vaccination rate in Singapore, now at 96 per cent of eligible population for two shots), is easily one of the highest in the world.
Vaccinations save lives and the number of shots taken makes a difference.
To date, 70,000 seniors have yet to receive their third vaccine shot.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung presented these facts recently:
1. Seniors 60 and above who are not vaccinated at all, the chances of them dying or ending up in ICU is 40 in 1000.
2. The same group who have taken the first two shots but not boosted, the chances of them dying or ending up in ICU is 10 in 1000.
3. Finally, the same group who have taken three shots, the chances of them dying or ending up in ICU drop to 3 in 1000.
This is also why the Government started the mobile vaccination teams initiative to make it easier for elderly to get their shots. Three mobile vaccination teams were deployed to Ansar, Telok Blangah and Nee Soon on Jun 27 and will expand to 25 mobile vaccination teams in the next two to three weeks.