Singapore has long been successful in the fight against the corona virus. In mid-March, however, the number of cases increased rapidly. The city state’s often praised tracing is now reaching its limits.
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A visitor must have their temperature measured before entering a temple in the Chinatown district in Singapore.
Photo: Wallace Woon (Keystone)
Singapore is one of those countries that have received much recognition from epidemiologists. The city-state is considered active and efficient. Quick decisions, early restrictions and controls on flights from China, strict quarantine, an efficient detection of all people who have had contact with infected people. Singapore seemed to be doing a lot, if not everything, correctly in the fight against Covid-19. And yet it is now becoming increasingly clear that even the rich, tightly organized trading metropolis has difficulties in getting a grip on the virus. The problems have become more and more apparent in the past few days, the coherent picture that initially went around the world is starting to falter.
The world saw a state that had evidently learned its lessons from the Sars epidemic in 2003 and took the outbreak of Covid-19 very seriously from the very first minute. The number of cases was kept below 100 registered infections by the end of February. Then the situation changed rapidly. In mid-March, the number of cases increased rapidly. The city-state now has ten times as many cases as four weeks earlier. At the weekend, the government confirmed the number of 1309 infected, six of whom are now dead. On Sunday evening, it was also announced that Singapore quarantined two settlements with 20,000 guest workers because of the dozens of people infected.
Contagion routes are hardly traceable anymore
The fact that the situation changed significantly in March and the numbers skyrocketed is partly attributed to the so-called second wave, triggered by the many returnees from other continents; Most of them were Singaporean citizens, but also foreign business people and their families. Strict quarantine regulations now apply to all of them, and Singapore has tightened the entry regulations several times. As a result, foreigners are almost no longer able to bring family members into the city.
Despite strict controls and restrictions, it can be observed that the state is finding it increasingly difficult to link new cases with the known infections. This means that the infection routes are becoming increasingly difficult to understand. What was still outstanding in the first few weeks of the outbreak was often no longer possible in the past few days. The often praised tracing in Singapore is now reaching its limits. An alarm sign.
“Singapore has by far followed one of the best approaches,” explains infectiologist Michael Osterholm from the University of Minnesota in an interview with the Reuters agency. But now it is also evident in the city-state how difficult it is to contain this virus. This is presumably related to the fact that the sick do not go to the doctor; and that there is probably an unknown number of infected people who either have very weak symptoms or no symptoms at all. Those affected then do not even know that they are carriers, but still pass on the dangerous virus.
Only so-called “essential services” continue to run
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appeared on the Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., sounded worried about the rapidly increasing infection rate and ordered new, far more drastic steps in the fight against Covid-19. His announcement came at a time when everyday life in Singapore still seemed reasonably normal despite the economic hardship. Since the containment was still quite good in February, the state had refrained from closing school and one could visit restaurants. Most of the offices in the Central Business District also remained open, although numerous companies had already tried out their work online or divided their workforces into groups, each of which led to work in a staggered manner.
–The supermarkets in Singapore were still open in March, and many shops will close on Tuesday.
Photo: How Hwee Young (Keystone)
From Tuesday onwards it will be much stricter, the schools and many workplaces and shops will close, initially for four weeks. Only so-called “essential services” continue to run: clinics, grocery stores and banks remain open, and yes, the hairdresser and barber around the corner. Obviously, the notion that the population could falter in the shadow of the Corona crisis is weighty. However, tinting and coloring as well as the perm must be canceled because the time at the hairdresser should be kept to a minimum.
The government communicates its messages around the clock on all channels, but even that did not stop many from pouring into the malls and sometimes getting much closer than they should. On March 21, for example, in the Plaza Singapura shopping mile, you could watch rummaging tables from a popular Japanese lifestyle chain like a magnet for bargain hunters for hours. Dozens of customers put their heads very closely together over the goods, although they had long been sprinkled with the energetic messages about social distancing.
The close to the state Straits Times lamented in a comment that the early rule to keep clear had simply not been followed by many people in recent weeks. Premier Lee alluded to this when he said in his speech to the nation: “We need every Singaporean on board.” This is the only way to break the chains of infection.
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