Experts say hospitalizations and the need for intensive care always lag infections, which have risen in four weeks from 10,726 infections in the week of Nov. 12-18 to 58,300 in the week of Dec10-16.
Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the current wave of COVID-19 cases may have peaked and new measures such as a mandatory mask-wearing policy are not necessary.
At the opening of a health campus in Woodlands, north of Singapore, on Friday, Ong was quoted by Channel News Asia as saying: “We may have a slight increase, but I think we are more or less seeing the peak of this wave.”
The minister noted that the 600 to 700 hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients are putting significant pressure on the system.