Why are there so few coronavirus infections in Singapore’s health workers?

Throughout the world, overworked health care professionals are being infected with Covid-19, yet the Lion City has kept numbers low

Preparation, planning, patient ratios and protective equipment have all played a part. Still, even the best gear cannot guard against discrimination

Reading Time:7 minutes

Medical staff walk to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases building at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore. Photo: AFP

Published: 7:30am, 28 Mar 2020Updated: 11:51am, 29 Mar 2020

Uncooperative patients, long hours and a lack of protective equipment are hampering health care workers across the world as they take the fight to the coronavirus, leading many to fall sick themselves.

In Malaysia, a pregnant woman who did not disclose that her father was infected tested positive after giving birth, leading to the shutdown of the entire hospital for cleaning. In the Philippines, nine doctors have died, two of whom had dealt with a patient who lied about her travel history.

In Spain, where more than 5,400 health care workers have been infected, accounting for about 14 per cent of the country’s patients, there are no longer enough workers to care for patients.

In Italy, which has more than 69,000 patients, the virus killed a doctor who had no choice but to work without gloves.

In the United States, which has surpassed China to become the world’s most infected nation with more than 83,000 people testing positive for Covid-19, hospitals are being overrun with patients.

Health care staff in the country say patients are packed into emergency wards and intensive care units (ICUs), further raising the risk of infections. They also report shortages of ventilators, face masks, gowns and shields.

The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on March 7 released interim guidelines saying health care workers exposed to the coronavirus could be asked to return to work as long as they wore face masks and were not showing symptoms, if their employers had no other manpower available.

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