There has been no evidence showing that any of the current XBB strains cause more severe illnesses, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung. - ST FILE
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Singapore is in the throes of a Covid-19 wave, with the estimated number of daily infections rising from about 1,400 a month ago to 4,000 last week.
About three in 10 of the current cases are reinfections – higher than the 20 to 25 per cent seen during the last wave, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said.
While the number of infections is climbing, there is no evidence that the current strains cause more severe illness, he added.
The number of Covid-19 patients hospitalised, up from 80 to 220 over the past month, is also far below what was seen during the crisis period. Intensive care admissions have also remained stable and low, with fewer than 10 patients at any one time over the past month, Ong said.
He provided the updates on Friday at the National Healthcare Group’s population health collective annual workplan seminar.
Ong pointed out that while the current wave is not severe, the additional cases do add to the heavy workload at hospitals.
Speaking to community partners and general practitioners, he urged them to help educate their family, friends and patients to stay home and wear a mask if unwell, and get vaccinated annually if they are vulnerable or older than 60.
He also addressed comments by some people who have attributed the recent rise in local infections mostly to travellers bringing in the virus. “The understanding that this caused a rise in infection is incorrect. The virus is endemic, which means it is always circulating within our community. In such a situation, what drives our local waves is not imported infections, but reinfection of existing individuals in the community,” said Ong.
When the protection against infection - either from antibodies developed naturally from previous infections, or through vaccinations - wanes over time, people get re-infected and that leads to a rise in cases, he added.
The Health Ministry is continuing to do genetic sequencing of viral samples. There are now multiple variants circulating – XBB, XBB.1.5, XBB.1.9, XBB.1.16, XBB.2.3, BN.1, CH.1.1 – without a clear dominant strain.
The most important aspect of any infection wave is the severity of symptoms and whether patients become hospitalised. There has been no evidence to show that any of the current XBB strains cause more severe illness, Ong said.
He added: “What is happening is a clear demonstration of how far we have come. Even during a Covid-19 infection wave, like now, we continue to live life normally, are not pre-occupied over infection numbers, and not constantly talking about it. This is what endemicity should look like.”
