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SINGAPORE: The Singapore government said on Saturday (May 9) that it remains committed to its approach to selectively screen people with symptoms of the coronavirus, as it has yielded results and has made no major decision to move on to mass testing.
“We cannot carry out tests aimlessly,” city-state health minister Gan Kim Yong said at a press conference.
Outlining the nation’s testing strategy, Gan said the government is seeking to analyze positive cases, identify close contacts and quarantine them. It will also look for negative cases and allow workers to return to work while seeking to gradually reopen their economy.
Commerce and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing suggested on April 24 that the city-state is evaluating the mass tests, with “many more tests for the entire population and at the same time taking additional measures of safe distancing.”
Singapore now has one of the largest outbreaks in Asia after a resurgence of infections, mainly among low-wage migrant workers who stay in tight dorms. It reported 768 new cases on Friday, bringing the total reported infections in the country to nearly 22,000. To decisively cut the numbers, Singapore has extended its partial blockade, now in its fifth week, until June 1.
The increase in cases, along with plans to reopen its economy, has prompted the city-state to expand the evidence. The country’s goal of increasing testing five times from 8,000 per day to 40,000 by the end of this year comes amid a global shortage of test kits and materials.
Singapore is committed to continuing its selective testing strategy, health ministry director of medical services Kenneth Mak said at the press conference.
“Our selective testing strategies have given us quite a bit of performance. Not that that has not worked,” he said.
“As we eventually move forward, at a later period of time, in terms of when we normalize, our testing strategies would have to be reviewed and adjusted,” he said. “We have not made any major decisions on mass testing.” . “
While Singapore is expanding testing efforts, its game plan is different from the massive tests adopted by countries like South Korea, where people can request to be tested.
The government is targeting vulnerable groups such as the elderly residing in nursing homes and the homeless, as well as frontline workers caring for infected patients.
“When we talk about mass testing, not everyone raises their hands and asks for a test. It shouldn’t be that way,” National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs a government working group that addresses the virus, told reporters. conference.
“It has to be addressed,” he said. “Testing will be a national resource, which we will strategically apply to ensure Singapore is safe from the virus.”
The city-state will progressively assess the 16,000 seniors remaining in nursing homes, as well as another 5,000 residents and staff in adult welfare, shelter, and disability homes. Currently, 9,000 nursing home employees have been tested.
Although it plans to expand to 40,000 tests per day, supplies must be assigned to “priority areas,” Wong said. In addition to vulnerable groups, others include those with respiratory illnesses and migrant workers where repeated testing is needed even though I have been cleared.
The goal is to ensure that large groups of viruses do not form again, Wong said. Test kits should also be assigned to workers in essential services such as waste management, logistics, and finance.
Singapore will consider lifting its so-called “circuit breaker” measures if certain criteria are met, including reduced transmission of the virus in the broader community, as well as among migrant workers in dormitories.
Some workplaces and services will resume operations starting May 12, while certain groups of students may return to school the following week.
Meanwhile, sectors like manufacturing, which require workers to be on site, should start making preparations for the gradual reopening of the economy in the coming weeks, Commerce and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said. – Bloomberg
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