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Singapore preparing to live with endemic Covid-19 as residents grow ‘battle weary’ of pandemic, ministers say
- The three ministers who co-head the government’s coronavirus task force said in an op-ed they were sketching out a plan to treat Covid-19 as endemic
- This could include ‘multi-year’ vaccine booster shots, a shift away from monitoring daily cases and a return of mass gatherings, they said
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Singapore is drawing up a blueprint for Covid-19 becoming endemic in a plan that may include “multi-year” vaccine booster shots such as those given for the flu virus, a shift away from monitoring daily cases and a return of mass gatherings like the country’s annual National Day Parade, officials said on Thursday.
In an op-ed for the The Straits Times, the three ministers who co-head the government’s coronavirus task force said they were sketching out the plan as residents increasingly become “battle weary” after 18 months of weathering the pandemic.
Their comments follow recent intimations by other governments, including neighbouring Malaysia, that a different approach to deal with the pandemic may be required as it becomes increasingly apparent that there is no credible route to eliminating Covid-19 from the world.
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Singapore, which is in the midst of scaling back restrictions on public gatherings put in place in May following a surge in cases, has one of the world’s lowest death tolls from the pandemic.
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The government last week said more than half the population had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
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