Ong Ye Kung: No Spike in COVID-19 Cases Despite Long CNY Holidays & China’s Reopening

By
Estella Tok
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As Singapore enters its third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, it appears that the COVID-19 situation in Singapore has stabilised, said Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung today (27 January 2023). 

During the official opening of the NTUC Health Jurong Spring nursing home in Jurong West Street 52 on Friday, Mr Ong shared that new COVID-19 cases have been stagnant at low numbers over the Chinese New Year holidays. 

COVID-19 Statistics

According to Mr Ong, the number of new COVID-19 cases reported daily were in the “low three digits” over the long CNY weekend, and even decreased to a low 78 on Monday (23 January 2023). 

He added that there were no surges in reported COVID-19 infections in the days after the long CNY weekend as well.

Though COVID-19 cases rose to about 500 as of this Thursday, 26 January, emergency departments at hospitals managed to hold their ground.

While he acknowledged that people largely no longer analyse daily COVID-19 numbers and statistics, he believes that “things are stabilised” after observing the situation and these COVID-19 statistics attentively. 

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Hardly Any Impact of China’s Reopening on Singapore’s COVID-19 Scene

Mr Ong recognised many Singaporeans’ concern over the impact of China’s reopening on our COVID-19 scene, and are apprehensive that the worsening COVID-19 outlook in China may be “transferred” over to Singapore, referring to China’s ever-rising infection numbers. ‘

In response, Mr Ong stated that with the number of flights between China and Singapore per week being at a low of 38, the number of imported cases from China are also minimal, with no imported cases from China over the past week. 

Authorities are anticipating returning to “even greater normalcy in the not-too-distant future,” Mr Ong added. 

If that sounds familiar, it’s because during PM Lee’s New Year message, he said that Singapore may lift the remaining COVID-19 measures if situation is stable amid China’s reopening.

More People Visiting Clinics

However, more people are falling sick during the CNY period, althrough it’s not due to COVID-19.

According to a Lianhe Zaobao report, clinics are seeing more patients before and during this CNY, with a clinic seeing twice the number of patients.

Nevertheless, staff in the clinics said that most of them have fallen sick due to other reasons, like lack of sleep or rest, which compromised their immune system.

In other words, don’t panic if you see many people outside a clinic; it’s probably the CNY cookies, not COVID-19.

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Estella Tok