Health Check Ep 35: Why Singapore's Covid-19 circuit breaker measures cannot be lifted so early

14:06 mins

Synopsis: This is a fortnightly podcast series on Wednesdays by The Straits Times. For the latest state of Singapore's health in its Covid-19 fight, ST senior correspondent Joyce Teo speaks with Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang.

He is the infectious diseases programme leader at the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

Singapore has extended its circuit breaker period to June 1, and has seen its coronavirus cases shoot past the 10,000-mark as of April 22, after recording about 500 in March.

He talks us through the following points:

1. What is the extent of the spread in the foreign worker dormitories? How does that ratio compare with the spread in the local community? (1:42)

2. Singapore could continue to see a high number of cases emerging from the dormitories for the next few weeks, but is there a silver lining? (2:45)

3. Why it is important to control the outbreak in the migrant worker communities before there are considerations to lift circuit breaker restrictions (5:13)

4. What is the difference between asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic cases? (8:31)

5. When is the viral load highest? (9:13)

6. What's the difference between a PCR test and a serology test? Why we cannot just use any serology test available out there (11.32)

Produced by: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg) and Ernest Luis

Edited by: Adam Azlee

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