Singapore is preparing for a Covid-19 wave driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants. PHOTO: ST FILE
Singapore cannot afford to repeat what it did during the Omicron wave, when many people were taken to public hospitals because the facilities in which they were being cared for could not manage them properly, he added."Every healthcare setting needs to be Covid-ready, to be able to handle your own infections, take care of them in situ," Mr Ong said at his ministry's annual work plan seminar on Thursday . "Because with vaccination, most will recover uneventfully.
The good news, said Mr Ong, is that cases there peaked at a lower level than what was seen with the original Omicron wave. The country also did not see a sharp rise in hospitalisation and death rates.Singapore, having lived through several waves of Covid-19, can afford to be "quietly optimistic", especially since vaccination coverage is high and mask-on rules are still in place, he added.
Second, many long-term hospital patients are waiting for places in nursing homes. If Singapore can ramp up the number of nursing home beds, these patients can be moved there.These facilities were set up last year to take in elderly Covid-19 patients who required closer monitoring but were otherwise in stable medical condition.
habest..i oledi planned me cebu bataam hatyai holidae..