Covid-19 crisis
Why are there many covid deaths in SG in recent weeks?
The covid deaths in SG has increased to an unexpectedly high number.
The deaths during the past seven deaths, per million of population, was 10 for SG. It is the higher than most neighboring countries, except for Malaysia and Philippines. See this report.
Considering the high vaccination rate in Singapore, the good medical facilities and the layers of restrictions that are imposed on the public, the high death rate for Singapore is puzzling.
I like to give my hypothesis.
The death rates for Indonesia and India are low because they have already gone through a large spike of infections and deaths a few months ago. Many of the vulnerable people have already died. The rest of the population are mostly infected and have developed immunity.
The death rates in Hong Kong and Taiwan are low because they have still kept their social restrictions and have not moved into the endemic phase. When they move into this phase, they are likely to see higher deaths.
I would expect that Singapore would have lower death rates, compared to the other countries, such as Thailand, Vietnam and Myanmar, because Singapore has a higher vaccination rate and better medical facilities.
This is not the case. The death rate in Singapore is worse than these other countries.
I probably attribute this outcome to the higher age profile in Singapore. See table below.
The deaths occur mostly among the older people, who are more vulnerable to the covid virus.
Many people, including me, expected Singapore to perform better in moving towards the endemic phase. The actual outcome was unexpected and disappointing.
The government had spent over $100 billion to prevent a large spike in covid deaths. This does not count the losses suffered by the population at large.
Many of the measures introduced by the government consumed a lot of resources and funds. They were largely wasted and did not contribute to a better outcome.
Sadly, we did not perform well. The money spent is largely wasted.
Tan Kin Lian
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Someone said that as Singapore is a small place, the density is high. So, the transmission is high. The transmission is lower in countries with a large rural population.
Tan KL 17 Oct 2021
If the authorities truly want to help these people, they must promote a healthy lifestyle and advocate for an adequate daily intake of Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Zinc.
Chiam Zhi Bin 17 Oct 2021
I also noticed that the overwhelming majority of the covid deaths in the recent surge have underlying conditions.
Even vaccination might not help these people with co-morbidities as their immune systems might be weak or compromised and unresponsive to the vaccination.
The people with co-morbidities must improve their health and strengthen their immune system before they get covid if they want to increase their chances of recovery.
If the authorities truly want to help these people, they must promot
Chiam Zhi Bin 17 Oct 2021