SINGAPORE — Despite the increase in Covid-19 cases in the wider community nearly a week after Singapore eased stay-home restrictions, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said that the climb was “within expectations” and the situation remained “under control”.

His comments at a virtual press conference on Monday (June 8) came a day after the Ministry of Health reported that the average daily tally of new Covid-19 cases in the community had doubled from four to eight in the week that Singapore lifted its circuit breaker on June 2. That was when limited restrictions on social and non-essential business activities were eased.

Mr Wong, who co-chairs with Health Minister Gan Kim Yong a governmental task force to tackle the pandemic, said: “On the whole, our assessment is that the situation over the past week remains under control and the new daily (community) cases are within expectations.

“We will continue to monitor the situation over the coming week, and as we had explained before, by the middle of the month, we will decide on whether or not to make the next move to Phase Two.” 

Singapore is exiting the circuit breaker in three phases. The second phase will see more activities resuming, including dine-in at restaurants in small groups. This could happen as early as the end of June, the authorities said previously. 

Mr Wong said that the surge in daily community cases was also partly due to increased testing.

Mr Gan said that many of the community cases seen this past week could be attributed to proactive surveillance, which allows the authorities to identify Covid-19 patients early and to contain any potential spread quickly.

These include tests for staff members and residents at residential homes for seniors, as well as all preschool employees.

On Sunday, four students and one non-teaching staff member at five schools across Singapore were found to have the coronavirus as a result of increased testing. Tests were expanded from June 2 to all school employees and students above age 12 who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor, instead of only for those with prolonged symptoms.

To keep community transmission low, Mr Wong said that the public should not have the mindset that they should “exploit each and every rule to the fullest possible degree”, but to grasp the spirit of the rules and to take precautions, stay home and minimise contact.

Mr Wong said some people have noted that they already see many people on public transport and they asked why rules could not be relaxed to allow more interaction with family and friends.

Responding, he said that the setting and risks are different. The risk of contracting the virus on public transport is transient, as the trips are not long.

“On public transport, the fact that we are allowing people to return to work, to go back to schools, means that inevitably, there will be more people using public transport,” he reiterated.

“And when that happens, it will be hard to maintain that physical distance between one another.”

Precautions are in place on public transport to minimise the risks of transmission, such as requiring people not to talk to one another and to wear a mask.

Social interactions, by contrast, carry a different magnitude of risk. 

“The evidence we have for cases in Singapore, and the evidence around the world, shows that the vast majority of infected cases are typically spread by these few events that involve social interaction and gatherings,” Mr Wong said.

“That is why we have been much stricter in limiting social gatherings in Phase One.”

Mr Wong said that if everyone does his or her part in following the rules in this ongoing first phase, community transmission will stay low and stable this period.

This gives Singapore a much better chance of moving to the next phase early.

“We look forward to everyone’s cooperation in helping to keep transmission under control,” Mr Wong said.

Singapore on Monday confirmed 386 new cases of Covid-19, pushing the total to 38,296. Most of the new patients are migrant workers in dormitories, with two cases in the community.