Singapore revises outbreak response system

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has revised its Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) framework to manage pandemic threats in the Republic, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said this morning (Oct 25).

DORSCON, adapted from the alert colour phases used during the SARS outbreak in 2003, had five alert phases representing the spread of disease and it’s control measures were “hardwired to each alert phase”, Mr Gan said at the 2013 National Security Conference.

The new DORSCON framework, he added, will consider not just the spread of disease in Singapore but also the severity of the disease.

The control measures for each colour phase “are no longer hardwired but will be modular, allowing for flexibility and gradation based on the MOH’s continual assessment of the risks”, Mr Gan said.

This means the new DORSCON — with four instead of five colour alerts — is applicable to both mild and severe diseases, and will allow for responses to be tailored to the actual situation.

The MOH said that the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 highlighted some limitations in the old DORSCON framework. While the disease had widespread transmission in the community, there were few hospitalisations and deaths.

Hence, flexibility was applied to allow relevant control measures to cater to the milder disease.