{"id":2060,"date":"2021-06-29T13:05:18","date_gmt":"2021-06-29T13:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=2060"},"modified":"2021-07-08T13:57:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-08T13:57:54","slug":"how-singapores-radical-plan-to-live-with-covid-would-work-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southasiantimes.com.au\/?p=2060","title":{"rendered":"How Singapore\u2019s radical plan to live with Covid would work in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Singapore\u2019s road map to \u201clive with Covid-19,\u201d which includes no longer releasing daily case numbers, is a \u201csensible approach\u201d for Australia, a leading epidemiologist has said.<\/p>\n

\n

But not yet.<\/p>\n

Last week, a bevy of senior ministers from the city-state\u00a0announced that in the future Covid would be treated like other endemic diseases such as flu.<\/p>\n

Goals of zero transmissions, quarantine for travellers and isolation of close contacts would be out, replaced by breathalyser tests done before going to work or the shops.<\/p>\n

Vaccinations would prevent most people with Covid becoming ill and they would be able to recuperate at home.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bad news is that Covid-19 may never go away. The good news is that it is possible to live normally with it in our midst,\u201d wrote Singapore\u2019s trade Minister Gan Kim Yong, finance Minister Lawrence Wong and health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in an editorial in the\u00a0Straits Times<\/i>\u00a0last week.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery year, many people catch the flu. The overwhelming majority recover without needing to be hospitalised, and with little or no medication. But a minority, especially the elderly and those with comorbidities, can get very ill, and some succumb.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t eradicate it, but we can turn the pandemic into something much less threatening, like influenza or chickenpox, and get on with our lives,\u201d the trio said.<\/p>\n

Singapore\u2019s new road map won\u2019t kick in straight away but when the country of 5.7 million people reached a high vaccination rate.<\/p>\n

Singapore plan a \u201csensible approach\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Peter Collignon, an infectious diseases professor at the Australian National University, told news.com.au Singapore\u2019s was a \u201csensible approach\u201d.<\/p>\n

But the time for Australia to follow their lead was not yet and might not be for many months.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we get to between 20 \u2013 35 million doses then we can have a look at a different approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said an aim should be to fully vaccinate around 70 \u2013 80 per cent of the population including 90 per cent of those over 70 years of age.<\/p>\n

Currently 36 per cent of Singaporeans are fully vaccinated. In Australia, 4.7 per cent of people have had both jabs.<\/p>\n

With a million doses of Astra Zeneca coming out of Melbourne every week and Pfizer also in circulation, Prof Collignon said two million injections a week was achievable in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, reaching a high level of protection could still be many months away and more likely towards the end of 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce a large proportion of the population is vaccinated our approach should be about home hospitalisations and how many deaths (rather than case numbers).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt some stage the consequences of this disease are going to be markedly decreased.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof Collignon pointed out that in 2017 influenza claimed 1400 Australians. It was a bad year for the flu but general everyday life was not disrupted.<\/p>\n

Singapore had an initial peak of cases last year, topping out at 600 a day in mid-April. Following a smaller wave in August, Covid-19 hasn\u2019t flared up since.<\/p>\n

However there has been a steady undercurrent of around 20-30 cases every day. The nation has recorded 35 deaths in total.<\/p>\n

The trio of Singaporean ministers said the reporting of daily case numbers should be ended at some point.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of monitoring Covid-19 infection numbers every day, we will focus on the outcomes: how many fall very sick, how many in the intensive care unit, how many need to be intubated for oxygen, and so on,\u201d the three ministers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is like how we now monitor influenza.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ministers Kung, Yong and Wong said Covid could be \u201ctamed\u201d if not vanquished through widespread vaccination.<\/p>\n

They called the road map \u201ca new normal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn time, the airport, seaport, office buildings, malls, hospitals and educational institutions can use these kits to screen staff and visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

People with Covid would recover at home because symptoms would mostly be mild and close contacts would be vaccinated.<\/p>\n

As most cases will be less of an issue, the need for contact tracing and quarantining will be low.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory has shown that every pandemic will run its course,\u201d the three concluded.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned that\u00a0high vaccination rates may not be enough\u00a0to open international borders.<\/p>\n

Source: news.com.au.<\/p>\n

image credit: Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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