Comments
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has said that early clinical observations globally suggest that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 may be more transmissible and have a higher risk of reinfection compared to the Delta and Beta variants of the virus.
“This means that there is a higher likelihood of individuals who have recovered from Covid-19 to be reinfected with the Omicron variant,” Channel News Asia quoted the ministry as saying on Sunday in an update on the Omicron variant.
Omicron variant: Delhi's first case was double-vaccinated, showed no fever
Meanwhile, the city-state reported one more ‘preliminarily positive’ Omicron case on Sunday. The 37-year old vaccinated permanent resident was on the same flight as two other ‘preliminary positive’ cases that landed here from South Africa on December 1.
On Sunday, Singapore also reported 552 new Covid-19 cases and 13 deaths linked to the coronavirus.
The ministry said it has, over the past several days, reviewed reports from South Africa and other countries, and actively engaged experts in affected countries to obtain first-hand information.
With the new variant spreading globally, Singapore “must expect to detect more cases at our borders and, in time to come, also within our community”, MOH cautioned.
Studies on whether existing Covid-19 vaccines are effective against the new variant are ongoing, but “there is an emerging view amongst scientists around the world that existing Covid-19 vaccines will still work on the Omicron variant, especially in protecting people against severe illness,” the MOH said.
The ministry urged those eligible to get themselves vaccinated or go for their booster jabs, saying there is strong scientific consensus that doing so will protect against any existing and future variants of Covid-19.
Common Omicron symptoms
Addressing concerns regarding the severity of the strain of the virus, the MOH said Omicron cases have “mostly displayed mild symptoms, and no Omicron-related deaths have been reported so far”.
Omicron shadow looms over oil, gas prices
Common symptoms reported include sore throat, tiredness and cough, the ministry added.
As for reports that there were more Omicron-related hospitalisations among younger people in South Africa, the ministry said this could be due to an overall high infection rate among the population.
Another factor could be that existing patients hospitalised for non-covid-19 related reasons could have tested positive for the variant while in hospital.
The Omicron outbreak was first detected in a university town with a younger demographic. According to the South African health experts, any hospitalisation stays for this demographic thus far have been short, of about one to two days.
MOH said it would need to collect more information on older individuals infected with the Omicron variant to assess if it is more severe than the Delta variant.
The ministry said studies so far show antigen rapid tests, in addition to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, are effective in detecting Covid-19 infection, including Omicron cases.
The National Public Health Laboratory is conducting whole genome sequencing to confirm the variant.
As of Sunday, Singapore has reported 2,69,211 Covid-19 cases and 759-coronavirus linked deaths since the pandemic began last year.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.