Singapore with 82% Vaccination Rate Surpasses 1,400 Daily Cases... Highest Ever Recorded

31 Deaths After 'With Corona' Announcement
High Possibility of Reinstating Stronger Quarantine Measures

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Singapore, where the COVID-19 vaccination completion rate has exceeded 80%, has seen its daily new confirmed cases surpass 1,400, reaching an all-time high. Since the announcement of the 'With Corona' strategy at the end of July, which manages COVID-19 from a pandemic to an endemic level, the number of new deaths over the past two months has also exceeded 30, raising concerns that quarantine measures may be strengthened again.

According to Singapore's daily newspaper The Straits Times on the 23rd, the Singapore Ministry of Health announced that the daily COVID-19 cases reached 1,457 the previous day, setting a new record. The previous highest daily case count was 1,426 on April 20 of last year. In particular, the number of locally transmitted cases exceeded 1,000 four times in the past five days, putting health authorities on alert.

The number of deaths continues to rise as well. The Singapore health authorities reported that since the announcement of the With Corona strategy at the end of July, after achieving an 80% vaccination rate, 31 deaths have been added over the past two months, approaching half of the total cumulative deaths of 68. The Singapore government stated on the 20th that 82% of the population of 5.7 million has completed COVID-19 vaccination, boasting one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, but confirmed cases and deaths are surging due to the spread of the Delta variant.

Ong Ye Kung, Singapore’s Minister for Health, said in a media interview the previous day, "We had planned to manage new cases at a level of 100 to 200 and gradually reopen, but the Delta variant did not allow us to wait that long." He emphasized, "Two factors are important in determining whether Singapore has reached a serious situation: the number of severe cases and hospital capacity. If problems arise here, we will honestly explain to the public the need for stronger quarantine measures."