SINGAPORE, July 5 — Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said today that the current Covid-19 wave would not be as severe as the Omicron wave earlier this year due to "stronger immunity either through booster shots or recovery from infections”.

Speaking in Parliament in response to several questions on the topic from various Members of Parliament (MPs), Ong added that the slowdown in the Covid-19 infection rate is a sign that the wave is at or near its peak.

He said case numbers by the end of today were expected to be over 12,000, which is a "tad higher” than Tuesday last week when the number was 11,504.

"So there are indications that we are near the peak, if not at the peak. And we should be relieved that the number this week did not double from last week. Otherwise, we will be at 24,000 or 22,000 this week.” Ong said that in South Africa, the second Omicron wave driven by subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 was about one-third the peak of the earlier Omicron wave.

"We anticipated this wave when we learnt about subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 which have a significant growth advantage over BA.2. The wave, however, arrived slightly earlier than the July and August timeframe that we anticipated.” Ong noted that while every country’s experience will be different, Singapore has good reason to believe that this will be a smaller wave than the last.

He said it is important to ensure hospital capacity is not overly stressed. This could be achieved by ensuring high vaccination and booster coverage to protect as many people as possible from severe illness, if infected.

Ong was asked by West Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) MP Ang Wei Neng about the proportion of infections caused by the two subvariants.

Ong said about 50 per cent of all infections are being caused by them, with BA.5 the more dominant of the two.

The percentage has been roughly doubling every week, and is expected to increase to 70 to 80 per cent next week, he added.

If they are approved, the Government will look at using vaccines directed at the subvariants which are being developed "probably by the end of the year”, he said.

But he said the public should not wait for these vaccines, or hold back on getting boost shots.

Ong said about 60,000 seniors aged 60 and above have not received their first booster shot, otherwise known as the third shot. This is down from 70,000 last week.

He added that it was "good thing” that seniors were coming forward but urged the rest to "do so quickly because it makes a huge difference as to whether you will fall severely sick”.

Ong reiterated the Ministry of Health’s recommendation, issued in March, that vulnerable people, including seniors aged 80 and over, should take a second booster shot.

In addition to vaccination coverage, the Government is also working to ensure that healthcare institutions are ready to ramp up in the event of increased admissions.

Ong said that sufficient beds in Covid-19 treatment facilities (CTFs) have been maintained to manage cases that are serious but not requiring hospital care. The number of beds in these facilities is now 1,300, down from 2,000, with a higher staff ratio, and are about a quarter occupied.

To help reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalisation, Covid-19 therapeutics such as oral antivirals, including Paxlovid, have been made more readily available in primary care and nursing homes, he said.

Ong said public hospitals continue to face high demand from non-Covid patients or "business as usual” patients, and that over time, the Government hopes to use CTFs to treat both Covid-19 and non-coronavirus patients.

"We have already reconfigured one of our CTF facilities at Sengkang Community Hospital to this new model and will explore converting other CTFs in future.” Ong was asked by Yip Hon Weng, MP for Yio Chu Kang Single Member Constituency, whether hospitals are cutting back elective surgery owing to the latest Covid-19 numbers.

He responded that about 700 beds, or 4 per cent of the business-as-usual beds, had been cut back. By comparison, 1,700 beds or 15 per cent of these beds were cut during the Omicron wave earlier this year.