SINGAPORE, Oct 9 (NNN-CNA) – Singapore Prime Minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said today that, he expects COVID-19 daily cases to continue rising for some weeks, and that the country’s healthcare system will still be under pressure.
“We can slow, but we cannot stop the Delta variant,” said Lee, when delivering his message on updating the COVID-19 situation in Singapore.
He said, the surge of daily cases will level off and cases will start to decline, at a timing that is unknown exactly right now. But from the experience of other countries, it will hopefully be within a month or so.
The prime minister said, it has been a long campaign against COVID-19. “The war continues, but we are in a much better position now than a year or six months ago.”
“Sometimes it may not feel like it, but we are making steady progress towards the new normal,” the prime minister said.
Singapore’s Ministry of Health announced last night that, the country added 3,590 cases of COVID-19 on that day, bringing the total tally in the country to 120,454. This is the fourth consecutive day when the daily new cases surpass 3,000.
The ministry also said that six more cases have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection, bringing the death toll to 142.
Lee said, Singapore must protect its healthcare system and workers at all costs, in order to get through the pandemic safely. He asked Singaporeans to support this effort by continuing to abide by prevailing Safe Management Measures (SMMs) and cutting back on social activities, to slow the spread of the virus, getting vaccinated, conducting self-test regularly to avoid infecting others, and recovering at home if infected, unless having serious illness or vulnerable family members.
He also said, it will take Singapore three to six months to get to the new normal, when the country can ease restrictions, have light SMMs in place, and cases remain stable.
He said, with vaccinations, COVID-19 has become a treatable, mild disease for most people. “So for 98 percent of us, if we catch COVID-19, we can recover by ourselves at home, just as we would if we had the flu.”
He also said that as part of living with COVID-19, Singapore must also connect itself back to the world. In particular, the country must continue to re-open its borders safely.
Singapore has started Vaccinated Travel Lanes with Germany and Brunei, and recently announced another with South Korea.
Lee said that Singapore is implementing more such arrangements, especially with countries whose COVID-19 situations are stable, so as to keep the country connected to global supply chains and help to preserve Singapore’s hub status.– NNN-CNA
