Advertisement
Coronavirus pandemic
This Week in AsiaHealth & Environment

Singapore’s return to tighter rules raises the question: what does living with Covid-19 really mean?

  • The city state’s transition from a ‘pandemic to endemic’ approach has been derailed by a rise in cases, prompting a return to stricter social measures
  • Some analysts agree it’s best to not live on the edge, but others say policy rollbacks erode public trust and expanding vaccination should be the priority

Reading Time:6 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
17
Singapore’s plan to embrace a new normal regarding its Covid-19 policies has been challenged by a recent surge in new cases. Photo: AP
Kok XinghuiandDewey Sim
After Singapore this week reimposed Covid-19 restrictions that were eased just days earlier amid raised hopes that the city state would adapt to living with the virus, the frustrations of whiplashed Singaporeans were laid bare on social media.
On Facebook and LinkedIn, some wrote long posts questioning whether the government’s Covid-19 task force, partly comprising younger ministers from the People’s Action Party (PAP), was too risk-averse to weather a surge in cases without hitting the panic button.

The task force co-chairs, including Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, earlier this month outlined plans to transition to a new normal – effectively treating Covid-19 like the flu once a critical mass of the population was vaccinated.

Instead of monitoring infection numbers, they said, the focus would be on outcomes, such as the number of patients in intensive care (ICU) or needing oxygen.

This new approach was challenged when daily caseloads – linked to clusters among fishmongers and patrons of clandestine karaoke bars – rose to their highest since last year’s outbreak in foreign worker dormitories. As of Thursday, the two clusters accounted for 781 infections.

Officials were particularly unnerved by the cases linked to the Jurong Fishery Port, which they feared would expand quickly in markets and adjoining cooked food centres patronised by the elderly. About half of Singapore’s 5.7 million population has been fully vaccinated, while 73 per cent have received at least one vaccine dose. Among citizens 70 and older, 71 per cent are fully vaccinated

Advertisement