Covid-19: Number of community cases down but S'pore ‘not out of the woods' yet, says Gan Kim Yong

SINGAPORE — While the number of Covid-19 cases in the local community has gone down, Singapore is “not out of the woods yet” and efforts to keep the figures low need to continue as just one case can spark a new cluster, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong on Friday (May 1).

“It’s too early for us to celebrate or to think about ending the infection in June or July or whatever time frame. 

“(We must) focus more importantly on our immediate task to ensure that we are able to manage and contain the total number of infections in Singapore. I think that's our primary objective,” said Mr Gan, who was speaking at a press conference as co-chair of a multi-ministry task force handling the Covid-19 response in Singapore.

Ministry of Health’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak said that while a research project by a group of students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design had predicted that the Covid-19 pandemic in Singapore would end in July, this was “very broad high-level data”.  

The prediction, which was on data retrieved from coding programmes, may not represent how an outbreak actually progresses in the country, he said.  

The transmission of Covid-19 between foreign workers living dormitories and that of individuals in the local community are following very different trajectories, he noted. 

Nevertheless, the projections are useful in showing that there is “still a long way to go” and Singapore has to be mindful that there may be more cases turning up, he added.

“There is a need to continue to be vigilant in our monitoring, our picking up of cases in our management of patients with Covid-19 infection. We should not be complacent and assume that we are out of the woods, even if the numbers in our community remain relatively low,” Assoc Prof Mak said.

NEW SAFE DISTANCING GUIDELINES AFTER CIRCUIT BREAKER

Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force, added that the country may have to deal with “recurring waves of infection”.

As such, new safe distancing guidelines and standards for workplaces will be put in place after circuit breaker measures are relaxed, he said. 

“It cannot be going back to the old practices, business as usual. We have to put in place new guidelines, new standards — literally workplace safety standards, but now safety in the broader context.

“You almost need safe distancing inspectors in every workplace, making sure that all of these standards are upheld so that workplaces can be safe when we resume activities,” he said.

Regular testing will also be increased and technology will be used to ensure better tracking of cases in the workplace.

About 15 per cent of the workforce who still commute to work daily have to abide by strict guidelines such as wearing masks and not socialising among themselves, Mr Wong added. These guidelines will be “expanded upon” as more workers are allowed to return to work.

Mr Gan said that it would not be a “one-size-fits-all” measure and that the guidelines will depend on the sector.

“We need to do it in a progressive way, in a calibrated way, and also in a safe way. We will share more when the time comes and we will progressively share more as we open up more,” Mr Gan added.

In addition, Mr Wong said that the Government is in the process of working with technology giants Apple and Google on the TraceTogether mobile application, in order to “update protocols so the app can be more effective”.