To forestall the current surge, a fresh set of restrictions including a two-person limit on dining came into effect on Monday, while companies have been asked to allow employees to work from home where possible.
On Thursday, elderly citizens – even those vaccinated – were advised to stay at home and only head out for essential activities for the next four weeks.
That advisory came amid a sharp rise in the Covid-19 death toll among senior citizens. The total number of deaths from coronavirus now stands at 95, with 40 of those in September.
The current state of affairs has triggered public criticism of government policy from within the medical community, which has by and large backed officials since the pandemic began.
Doctors privately said they were airing dissenting views in public amid mounting frustration over whether the government’s multi-ministry Covid-19 task force (MTF) had the wherewithal to follow through with the so-called “living with Covid” plan.
Some used the hashtag #stopasymptomatictesting on social media posts.
Singaporeans have been left confused and frustrated, it said. The “reactive nature” of the taskforce’s approach in dealing with outbreaks of infections “has led to stop-start, on-again-off-again policies which had impacted adversely on both employers and employees”.
The party’s chairman, Paul Tambyah, who is president of the Asia Pacific Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infection, was part of a panel who proposed an eight-point plan to deal with the pandemic.
It suggested stopping the testing of asymptomatic vaccinated individuals to conserve resources for the vulnerable, and urged the authorities to do away with blanket closures and restrictions.
Instead, measures should be more targeted, such as those implemented for food poisoning outbreaks. “Shut the physical building or facility where an outbreak occurs instead of across the whole island where outbreaks have not occurred,” it said.
Cook said aggressive testing made sense in the earlier phases of the pandemic, when the country was trying to stop infection clusters from growing. “At this point, however, it could be argued that we are testing too much,” he said.
Mass routine testing, if it leads to mild cases self-isolating, would be an effective way to tamp down on the virus spread. But if it leads to a flood of people turning up at the emergency departments of hospitals, it may do more harm than good, suggested Cook