COVID-19: Sharp spike in cases in other countries can happen in Singapore - Lawrence Wong
SINGAPORE — A sharp spike in confirmed cases of the COVID-19 infection in other countries can happen in Singapore despite the Republic’s extensive efforts to curb the outbreak, Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the multi-ministry taskforce on the coronavirus, said on Tuesday (3 March).
Speaking to reporters at a doorstop, the National Development Minister noted that in the past few days in Singapore, the number of cases had risen by “just a handful” daily and people have become accustomed to it in a way. “But this may not be the norm. And it can change very easily,” he said.
“You see this in other countries...you have very few cases for a few days and then suddenly one incident occurs...and there is a sharp spike in cases and sustained transmission. This has happened elsewhere, it can happen in Singapore too,” Wong added.
While Wong did not specify any countries, South Korea, Iran, Italy and Japan are among the countries worst hit by the outbreak after mainland China.
As of Tuesday, South Korea reported over 5,000 COVID-19 cases, including 28 deaths.
Daegu and Cheongdo - the worst hit areas - had earlier been designated as “special care zones” and the country’s health alert level is at the highest level of “serious”.
The confirmed cases in Italy have surged to over 2,000 including 52 deaths as of Tuesday, primarily in the northern Lombardy region. In Iran, the number of cases has risen to more than 1,500 with 66 deaths.
The spike in the number of cases in South Korea, Italy and Iran has led to the Singapore authorities to widen the travel ban for new visitors from these countries. New visitors with recent travel history to South Korea, Iran and northern Italy within the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore from late Wednesday.
Previously, the ban applied only to new visitors with recent travel history to mainland China, and to Daegu city and Cheongdo county in South Korea.
Wong also said there have been questions asked about the effectiveness of such travel restrictions. He explained that border controls are still useful at this stage of the epidemic, as Singapore can still identify where the sources of risk are and take appropriate steps to reduce the risk from the infected sources.
“And by doing so, we flatten the epidemic curve in Singapore, we buy ourselves time, and then we avoid a situation where our hospitals get overwhelmed by a sudden surge of cases, so this is useful,” said Wong.
Among other measures, Singapore will also implement a new swab test for the COVID-19 infection from Wednesday 2359 hours for all travellers who enter the country exhibiting symptoms of respiratory illnesses or fever. All land, sea and air checkpoints currently conduct temperature screening on travellers.
Wong said at some stage, the border controls alone will not be sufficient as the virus will still spread to countries around Singapore. In some countries with a low number of cases, there may also be undetected cases going around, he pointed out.
“So we will be exposed at that stage to multiple waves of infection. And we have to be ready for that. And we cannot stop it from happening,” Wong added.
additional reporting by Wan Ting Koh and Dhany Osman
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