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A new wave of Covid-19 infections has arrived in Singapore sooner than expected, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on June 28.

Increase in Covid-19 cases recently

Ong said the increase in overseas travels, including to Europe, during the June school holidays and the recent increase in Covid-19 cases here could be related.

Previously, he said earlier in June 2022 that Singapore will likely have a Covid-19 wave sometime in July or August 2022.

Ong's latest remarks were made to Chinese daily Lianhe Zaobao after the 30th annual general meeting of the Chinese Development Assistance Council.

He said in Mandarin: "I had earlier said that the next wave might take place around July or August, but it's now here a little earlier, at the end of June -- possibly due to the June holidays."

This may also explain the increase in Covid-19 cases recently, where Singapore recorded 11,504 new Covid-19 cases on Jun. 28, according to Ministry of Health (MOH), which is the highest it has recorded in three months.

MOH will monitor situation

However, Ong said he does not think that the current wave would be worse than the wave caused by the BA.2 Omicron subvariant in February 2022.

MOH will continue monitoring the situation, he added, and that it is important that hospitals in Singapore are provided with enough support should there be a surge in Covid-19 patients.

He also urged seniors to take their booster shots as soon as possible so that they can protect themselves from the new Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

The new Omicron subvariants make up around 45 per cent of the Covid-19 cases in Singapore last week, of which BA.5 in particular was estimated to have contributed to 40 per cent of all Covid-19 cases.

Top image from @singaporestockphoto/Unsplash