Singapore, Dec 16 (EFE).- Singapore’s health ministry has “strongly” encouraged people to wear masks in crowded places amid rising Covid-19 cases in recent weeks.
The number of Covid-19 cases in the island country rose to 56,043 between Dec. 3 to 9 compared to 32,035 cases in the previous week, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.
“To preserve our healthcare capacity, MOH has been working with public hospitals for contingency planning, including ensuring adequate manpower and deferring of non-urgent electives to maximize bed capacity for urgent cases in need of acute care,” it added.
The JN.1 variant, a descendant of the Omicron subvariant BA.2.86, s for the “vast majority” of the cases, according to the ministry.
The recommendation to use a mask comes almost two years after the Asian city-state, which followed a zero-Covid policy at the beginning, began reopening, completing the process over 2022.
Two years after the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Singapore had among the lowest Covid-19 mortality rates in the world, in part due to the partial-closure of its borders and strict surveillance of infections and social distancing measures.
It reached the endemic stage of the disease without its healthcare system being overwhelmed.
A total of 1,933 people have died from Covid-19 in the country of 5.4 million inhabitants, since the start of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization’s data.
The country has recorded almost 2.8 million cases, with most of the infections initially concentrated in migrant worker dormitories. EFE
pav/pd
