MOH Director Responds To S’porean Doctors Who Said Everyone Should Wear Masks When Outside

2020-02-13 , 9:00 am

There are plenty of conflicting opinions on the COVID-19 on WhatsApp.

One of which is about whether people should wear masks or not.

Doctors Advise Everybody To Wear Mask

An advisory recently circulated on WhatsApp, asking Singaporeans to wear masks when they’re out and about, no matter if they’re unwell or not.

advisory amidst COVID-19 outbreak — Image: WhatsApp

Drafted and signed by four doctors, the advisory stated that with both parties masked, it’s “safer” because it’s a “2 barrier protection”.

Be Creative With Your Masks

Singapore is facing a shortage of masks. The doctors acknowledged that it could be hard finding new surgical masks on a daily basis.

So they ask for Singaporeans to be creative.

The few suggestions they offered were:

Washable cloth masks
Reconstruction with suitable paper
Or tying a scarf to the face

In a nutshell, some measure is better than no measure.

Not Trying To Disclaim The Authorities

The health authorities in Singapore has previously stated that only people who are unwell need to wear a mask.

If you’re healthy, there’s no need to.

In the advisory, the doctors added that they have full faith in the authorities to act in the best interest of Singaporeans and that they were not trying to “disclaim” the authorities.

However, they felt the need to disseminate this information out immediately “in the interest of safety and life preservation.

MOH Director: The Best Prevention Against COVID-19

Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, the director of medical services at the Ministry of Health, was reported to have responded to the advisory.

He refutes the statement made by the doctors.

Professor Mak emphasised that at the current moment, it is believed that the COVID-19 spreads via respiration droplets.

So for prevention against COVID-19, it’s most important to be careful of what you touch and wash your hands frequently.

He added that the advisory was made “in good intentions” and contain relevant information like the washing of hands.

The Current COVID-19 Situation in S’pore

In Singapore, our number of confirmed cases has increased to 50 as of 12 Feb 2020.

There are also 5 confirmed clusters:

Yong Thai Hang shop, which is linked to 9 cases
The Life Church and Mission Singapore Church, which is linked to 5 cases
Grand Hyatt Hotel, which is linked to 3 cases in Singapore and 4 cases overseas
Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site, which is linked to 2 cases
Grace Assembly of God in Tanglin and Bukit Batok, which is linked to 2 cases

So far, out of all the 50 confirmed cases, 15 of them have fully recovered and are discharged.

8 of them are in critical condition and warded in the ICU.

The remaining 27 of them are stable or recovering well.

There are still 125 pending cases, and 1,090 close contacts have been identified. 984 are still in Singapore and MOH has managed to contact 961 of them. They are still working to contact the other 23 close contents.

In the meantime, stay updated by bookmarking MOH’s website.