In a dialogue on 28 January, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said: “As long as you are not well—whether you test negative or not—don’t go out.”
That’s right, if you find yourself with a runny nose, sore throat, a slight fever, or whatever the common symptoms of COVID-19 tend to be, stay at home and reschedule your relative vistations for another day.
As the common saying goes: better safe than sorry lah.
And you know that the Health Minister means serious business when he brings down the gavel of issuing fines if anyone is caught breaking the rules.
Extra Caution Necessary due to Subvariant BA.2
The main motivation behind giving such a message before the Chinese New Celebrations begin is mostly in part of the appearance of Omicron Subvariant BA.2.
You see, Subvariant BA.2 has this somewhat annoying ability of throwing false negatives during polymerase chain (PCR) and antigen rapid tests which specifically looks out for S-gene target failure, which Subvariant BA.2 doesn’t cause as obviously because it lacks the typical spike 69-70 mutation.
Therefore, the results of the PCR and antigen rapid tests are no longer fool proof.
In Mr Ong’s words, he says: “And if you get tested again and it turns up positive after you have visited people, it is already too late.”
The damage has already been done by then; you’ve already made contact with your close relatives during your visits or to strangers on your random trips outside to grab food, which makes it highly possible for another cluster of community cases to form.
Mr Ong reiterated that everyone should take an antigen rapid test before visiting the elderly, unvaccinated persons, or the immunocompromised.
The number of people at the social gathering should also be limited to five, as per the current COVID-19 safety management measures.
The aforementioned dialogue happened between Mr Omg, Professor Leo Yee Sin, Executive Direction of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, and Professor Wang Lingfa, an specialist in emerging infectious diseases at Duke-NUS Medical School as part of a launch of a Chinese-language book regarding Singapore’s battle with COVID-19, which was written by Lianhe Zaobao Journalists.
The book is called Cold Warriors: The Singapore Way, which will be released in February.
Current COVID-19 Situation in Singapore
On 28 January, Singapore had a total of 5,554 COVID-19 cases, which is a new record-high, and a vast majority were local cases.
Among the cases, 636 people have been hospitalised, 46 require oxygen supplementation and 10 are in the Intensive Care Units (ICU).
Though Omicron has proven to be milder than the Delta variant, we must stay vigilant against the Omicron variant because it is highly transmissible.
Mr Ong worries that if more people become infected, there will be a large group of people that need to be hospitalised and he wishes to avoid such a scenario.
Hence, Health Minister Ong warns the population at large to adhere to the rules or face the fines.
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Featured Image: Institute of Policy Studies
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