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Asia Minute: Singapore Has High Vaccination Rates and a Spike in Coronavirus

AP Photo/YK Chan
/
Associated Press

New cases of COVID-19 are climbing sharply in Singapore.

For seven days in a row they’ve registered more than 1,000 new cases — shattering the one-day record on Friday and then again on Sunday.

At the end of last week, the government announced that as of this week, people would only be allowed to gather in groups of two — down from groups of five for those who are fully vaccinated.

Residents who can do so are again being encouraged to work from home.

These are temporary measures — the government will review the situation in two weeks.

More than 80% of Singapore’s population is fully vaccinated — and health officials say that’s made a dramatic difference in the severity of cases.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Health said 98% of those infected over the last four weeks had no symptoms — or only mild ones.

Metrics the Singapore government tracks closely include COVID-19 patients needing supplemental oxygen or requiring intensive care in hospitals.

Both figures are rising, but the Health Minister has said they remain well within the capacity of the medical system.

Singapore’s government has taken the approach that COVID-19 will not be a virus that can be fully eradicated, and therefore it’s crucial to adapt a longer-term strategy of finding the most effective way of living with it.

Bill Dorman has been the news director at Hawaiʻi Public Radio since 2011.
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