Covid-19 crisis Secret weapon to stop the spread of the covid virus
Some some time, I have been exploring the question - why is the death rate from covid-19 so low in Singapore, compared to other countries?

Does Singapore have a secret weapon to deal with the virus and stop its spread?

I might have the answer.

During the first wave of the pandemic, the countries in Europe and America were badly hit by the virus. Large numbers of people were infected by the virus and many died. 

Singapore had a large number that were infected. There were mostly the foreign workers living in dormitories. They were effectively isolated and the virus did not spread to the community. The infected people were young and generally healthy and recovered from the infection.

The second wave of the virus hit India, Malaysia and a few other countries badly. The scale of the infection and deaths were comparable to the first wave that hit the western countries. 

The variant of the virus (identified by the World Health Organization as the "delta" variant) were also quite prevalent in Singapore. But Singapore was not hit on the same scale as in Malaysia, although the economic, social and cultural conditions in both countries are similar.

What is the secret weapon in Singapore?

My hypothesis is the "community facilities". These are special facilities set up to handle the isolation and treatment of people who were infected with the covid virus.

Here are the advantages of the community facilities, compared with hospitals:

a) It is easy to set up the community facility and to scale it up quickly when needed.

b) The facility can be better managed as, unlike general hospitals, it has to deal with only one disease. The health care workers can be suitably equipped to prevent the spread of infection. The patients can be isolated and supervised effectively, e.g. in social distancing and wearing of masks.

c) It reduces the risk of spreading the infection to other sick patients in a general hospital.

d) If oxygenation or special medical care is required, it can be provided in the community facility.

e) Although it is possible for a separate ward to be set aside in general hospital for covid patients, it is difficult to manage this special ward due to the circulation of the virus in the air condition system or the contact with other patients and hospital workers.

I hypothesize that the availability of the community facilities is the secret weapon that Singapore has to combat the spread of the virus.

I recall that in the early days of the covid epidemic in Wuhan, China, the government set up special facilities (e.g. in sports and community centers) to treat the covid patients. They also build two special purpose hospitals within a matter of days. 

This must be the secret weapon used in China to combat the covid infection.

If my hypothesis is correct, we should look at the countries that set up special facilities to deal with the covid virus. It is likely that these countries would have lower infection and death rates. 

I could be wrong.

Vote - do you agree that the special facilities is the secret weapon to deal with the virus?

Tan Kin Lian




 

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