According to a media source, Singapore is seeing a new surge of Covid-19 infections, with projected daily cases increasing from around 1,000 three weeks ago to 2,000 in the last two weeks.
The EG.5 and its sub-lineage HK.3 variations, which are descended from the XBB Omicron variant, are to blame for the recent increase in infection rates. As a group, they now represent almost 75% of instances.
We have already seen two waves of Covid-19 infections this year. According to Strait Times, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said, “Like for the last wave, which occurred from March to April, there are no plans to impose any social restrictions.”
We’ll accept and deal with this as an endemic illness. Ultimately, he said, “all indications indicated that current vaccines continue to work well in protecting us from severe illnesses if we are infected by these new variants. There has been no evidence to suggest that the new variants are more likely to lead to severe illnesses compared to the previous variants.”
The minister said that while immunizations in addition to illness may provide the best protection, such protection might diminish after a year.
He cautioned seniors 60 years of age and older, as well as those who are medically susceptible, to maintain up-to-date immunization records, noting that “we should expect more people to fall sick” and therefore lead to an increase in hospitalizations.
According to the article, Paxlovid, an oral antiviral medication used to treat Covid-19, has received full permission from the Health Sciences Authority to be used in Singapore starting in October.
The pill is intended to treat adult patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 who are at high risk of developing a severe illness in order to lower their risk of mortality and hospitalization.
