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‘Critical period’, but Singapore ‘not reversing course’ on treating Covid-19 as endemic as cases soar
- Officials are monitoring whether a rising number of infections will lead to a corresponding increase in demand for ICU treatment
- Minister says no need for lockdown ‘at this juncture’, but tightening of measures can’t be ruled out entirely
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Singapore on Friday said the country was entering a “critical period” amid a soaring increase in Covid-19 infections, with the city state registering 568 new cases on Friday – up from just 76 new daily cases two weeks ago.
Officials said they were monitoring whether there would be a corresponding increase in demand for intensive care and had instructed hospitals to reserve beds in case of a need to ramp up capacity.
Hospitals have also been told to defer non-urgent elective cases to free up hospital capacity.
The city state has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world with 81 per cent of the 5.7 million population already fully inoculated against the virus.
The Delta variant, however, has been causing a rapid increase in infections, causing concerns that the health care system is at risk of being overwhelmed.
Singapore has 1,000 ICU beds (including the reserves) set aside for Covid-19 patients. As of Thursday, seven of those beds were in use. There were also 631 people receiving treatment in hospital for Covid-19.
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