Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The surge in Covid-19 that has occurred has made the Singapore government decide to tighten social restrictions for its citizens. The latest restrictions went into effect on Monday and will last until October 24.
Later restrictions include meetings that are limited to a maximum of two people, and the obligation to work from home.
This policy is expected to contain the spike in transmission of Covid-19 and reduce pressure on health facilities. Despite rapid vaccination efforts, Singapore has recorded more than 1,000 daily cases this week, including 1,504 as of Thursday (23/9/2021) and became. the highest number since the start of the pandemic.
“Many COVID-19 positive people with mild symptoms seek medical treatment in hospitals, we may not need it at that time,” the Ministry of Health said in a statement to CNBC International.
With 82% of the population fully vaccinated, about 98% of coronavirus cases in the past four weeks had no or mild symptoms. Singapore’s ministers say the surge in Covid-19 cases in the country of 5.7 million people has put tremendous pressure on its health care system.
Singapore’s Minister of Commerce Gan Kim Yong, and co-chair of the government’s coronavirus task force, said tightening restrictions was a very difficult decision, given the impact on business and society. But he said the policy was expected to slow the rate of increase (infections) and avoid burdening health workers.
Health officials say infections have been doubling every eight days, and if new measures are not taken, it could jump to 6,000 a day in a few weeks. For mild Covid-19 cases, authorities are also trying to arrange for more people to recover at home and increase isolation facilities.
Singapore’s efforts to encourage more Covid-19 patients to stay at home caused some confusion this week. This is evident from the hotline network which is overwhelmed by calls from its citizens.
To protect its citizens, Singapore is also expanding its booster vaccine injection program to cover those aged 50 to 59 from early October.
(hps / hps)
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