S'pore's endemic Covid-19 plan is 'as comprehensive & as effective' as it can be: Ong Ye Kung

He said that MOH is "ironing out the teething issues" of the Home Recovery Programme.

Jane Zhang | October 04, 2021, 02:14 PM

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In Parliament on Monday (Oct. 4), more than a dozen Members of Parliament (MPs) filed questions about Singapore's current and future Covid-19 management.

Responding to a number of the questions, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung said that he believes that Singapore's plan is "as comprehensive and as effective" as it can be.

Are we ready for Covid-19 to be endemic?

Responding to a question by MP Jessica Tan on whether the government's current measures are effective in ensuring that Singapore is prepared for endemic Covid-19, Ong highlighted how Singapore has managed the pandemic differently from many countries:

"Our transition journey to living with Covid-19 is unique in this world, in the sense that we did not allow ourselves to go through big waves of transmission last year, which many countries did, and suffered tremendous loss of lives.

Today when we see other countries opening up and living lives almost normally, let's not forget the heavy price that they have paid last year."

He pointed out that Singapore began its "transition journey" only after a large majority of the population was vaccinated. As a result, the vast majority of infected individuals now have no or mild symptoms.

"I believe our plan is as comprehensive, and as effective [as] it can be, given what we know about the virus and the tools we have on hand. But we continue to learn about the virus, and improve our responses day by day, week by week."

Lockdowns are no longer an option

Ong stated that the recent decision to tighten safe management measures, as announced in a press conference on Sep. 24, was a "difficult but necessary" one.

Lockdowns like Circuit Breaker are "no longer an option", he added, saying that many workers, families, students, and businesses would suffer. A lockdown would also affect the ability for people in Singapore to earn a living in the long-term, he said.

However, when infection numbers rise and could put "considerable strain" on Singapore's hospitals and healthcare workers, it may still be necessary to tighten measures at times:

"Hence, even as we continue our journey to transit to a Covid-19 resilient nation, we should also have a care for our hospitals and our healthcare workers, and tap on the brakes to slow down the rate of transmission."

"Unfortunately, in this rapidly changing and evolving situation, we have to stay agile, adept, and respond quickly," Ong said.

He assured members of parliament that Singapore is "committed" to plans to open up and transit to a Covid-resilient nation.

Home recovery is important part of response

An important part of Singapore's Covid-19 response is the Home Recovery Programme (HRP), since the vast majority of infected people have mild or no symptoms.

Responding to Workers' Party MP Dennis Tan's question on whether individuals can request to instead be sent to an isolation facility, Ong said that the Ministry of Health (MOH) has been considering and accommodating such requests, taking into account the individuals' medical conditions and family circumstances.

"It is also important to emphasise that individuals and families should [be] — and, in fact, have been — making adjustments to their living arrangements to make HRP safe and possible at home."

He explained that it is only with a high take-up of HRP that hospitals can focus resources on people who may need greater medical attention, including non-Covid-19 cases who need acute hospital care.

Ong stated that each day, over half of infected cases are onboarded on HRP, and the proportion is expected to rise.

There are currently roughly 9,800 people on HRP, who are "recovering well". As of Oct. 3, over 2,800 individuals have been discharged from HRP.

Important to iron out teething issues with HRP

There have been reports recently of complaints from Covid-19 positive patients being unable to reach MOH, being given unclear instructions, and not being supported so that they can follow the correct quarantine practices.

Ong acknowledged that there have been "teething issues" in terms of the implementation of the HRP:

"Over the past week, and with the SAF overseeing and operating the programme end-to-end, we have been ironing out the teething issues, resolving service lapses, including those relating to timeliness of notification and conveyancing and also improving communications with patients and their families.

Things are improving, day by day."

Another issue that MOH has been working on is contacting a minority of individuals; Ong said that out of the people eligible for HRP, 93 per cent are "contacted promptly and smoothly onboarded", but MOH has had difficulties contacting a minority of people because there was no response, or their contact details were inaccurate.

He added that MOH hopes that family members, neighbours, and volunteers can help individuals who are illiterate and don't understand the SMS notifications from the ministry: "That is why our partnership with the People's Association is very important."

Ong acknowledged that it is important for MOH to iron out the issues of HRP so that there is a "strong sense of assurance" as patients undergo HRP.

He reiterated what he said previously on Saturday (Oct. 2):

"As I've explained at the Multi-ministry Task Force press conference over the weekend, the healthcare protocols developed over the past months have become complex and confusing to most people.

We are undertaking a holistic and comprehensive review to simplify them, so that people understand them, and can therefore do their part in the fight against Covid-19, and also help others who are in need of assistance and guidance."

Vaccination update

Ong stated that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines remain "very effective" in protecting individuals against severe illnesses from Covid-19 infections, and that people who have been fully-vaccinated with either of them are approximately 40 per cent protected from infection by the Delta variant.

As for Sinovac, only 2 per cent of the population in Singapore have received the vaccine, and the government does not yet have "meaningful data" to gauge its effectiveness against infection nor against severe illness.

However, Ong said that international data available has suggested that, similar to the mRNA vaccines, Sinovac does accord protection against severe illness but breakthrough infections are also not uncommon.

In terms of the booster programme, around 550,000 people have been invited to take their booster shots. Prior to this past weekend, Ong said, 350,000 had either gotten their booster shot or booked an appointment, and 240,000 have completed their jabs.

"So we are off to an encouraging start," he said.

In time, Ong said, eligible individuals who took the Sinovac or Sinopharm vaccine to take their mRNA booster shots, but most of those people are not due for their booster shot yet.

Currently, people's vaccination status in the TraceTogether app will not change, regardless of booster dose status.

"We are administering boosters in good time. And so this issue of expiring vaccination status has not arisen yet, but in time, this is an issue that we will need to review."

Ong added that the Expert Committee on Covid-19 Vaccination is continuing to review international data in order to to assess the efficacy and safety of booster shots for younger groups and people exposed to high-risk environments, like healthcare workers and frontline workers.

In addition, the Expert Committee is also studying the data emerging about the heterologous strategy of administering a non-mRNA booster shot that is different from the first two doses.

In the meantime, MOH will continue to administer the mRNA vaccines under the booster programme, following what the best available data does.

Top photos via CNA and Facebook / Ong Ye Kung.

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