Singapore: Doctors in Singapore believe the new wave of Covid-19 has peaked in the country, although some clinics are still seeing higher than usual numbers of patients and doctors are monitoring potential surges in the coming months.
Doctors are seeing cases stabilize, down about 20 percent from December, according to a report from Channel News Asia on Friday.
However, clinics are already making plans to get more drugs, in anticipation of a further backlog in the coming months.
Healthway Medical, for example, now receives an average of 50 to 60 patients who come with respiratory infections to its 57 clinics, according to the report. Covid-19 and flu cases make up the bulk.
This is about 10% more than the same number of patients previously, but a slight decrease from the Christmas peak.
“The peak of all cases of upper respiratory tract infection has stabilized. Most people have already returned from the trip,” said Dr. John Cheng, primary care leader at Healthway Medical Group, according to CNA.
“Most of our clinics had enough tampons for all acute and upper respiratory tract infections. . . to cope with a sudden increase in patient numbers,” he said.
“For the end of the year, there will definitely be a surge. And then, most of the time, during festive seasons, during holidays – with more and more people interacting, more travellers (travelling) in and out – we will be expecting some surges during those periods,” he said.
OneCare Medical is also seeing cases stabilize at its 38 clinics. He said cases are less likely to recede, especially in the short term.
“We believe that AKI (acute respiratory infection) has already peaked, so we deserve to see the numbers stabilize and likely slowly decline in the coming weeks, returning to the same baseline numbers,” Dr. Jimmy Chew, chief executive officer of OneCare Medical, was quoted as saying. . as he said.
“Of course, if the weather continues to be quite cold, and there continues to be a lot of circulating strains of ARI pathogens, then perhaps we might still see the numbers being sustained,” he said.
“With Chinese New Year coming up (February 10), there will still be ongoing gatherings. And of course there are still some travellers travelling, especially those who want to take advantage of the off-peak season,” said Chew.
“There may still be some infectious diseases. But of course, we expect to have already noticed the peak of ARI cases, so we will see a downward trend in the coming weeks,” he said.
“I think we want to keep a close eye on the situation. That’s why, when it comes to medicines, we have a tendency to do more inventory before waiting for that peak,” said Dr. Daniel Soong, medical director of the Unihealth Clinic, quoted through CNA.
“If we notice an increase in the number of cases and the number of cases, we can implement more in our clinic to reduce the waiting time for patients,” Soong said.