The city state of Singapore has stated covid will be treated like other endemic diseases such as flu.
There will be no goals of zero transmission. Quarantine will be dumped for travellers and close contact of cases will not have to isolate. It also plans to no longer announce daily case numbers.
But you may need to take tests to head to the shops or go to work.
Senior Singaporean ministers have said it is the “new normal” of “living with covid”.
“The bad news is that Covid-19 may never go away. The good news is that it is possible to live normally with it in our midst,” wrote Singapore’s trade Minister Gan Kim Yong, finance minister Lawrence Wong and health minister Ong Ye Kung said in an editorial in the Straits Times this week.
“It means that the virus will continue to mutate, and thereby survive in our community.”
Singapore never got to zero, now doesn't want to
Like most countries, Singapore had an initial peak of cases last year, topping out at 600 cases a day in mid-April. Following a smaller wave in August, Covid-19 hasn’t flared up since.
However, the nation of 5.7 million, slightly larger than Sydney, has had a steady undercurrent of around 20-30 cases every day. The nation has recorded 35 deaths in total.
Singapore has strict border controls in place with most countries including tests on arrival, hotel quarantine and stay at home orders.
It’s not dissimilar to Australia, but Singapore varies the demands on travellers depending on the risk in the location where they last visited.
But all that would be eventually done away with under the plan put out by ministers Kung, Yong and Wong who make up Singapore’s Covid-19 multi-ministry task force.
“Every year, many people catch the flu. The overwhelming majority recover without needing to be hospitalised, and with little or no medication. But a minority, especially the elderly and those with comorbidities, can get very ill, and some succumb.
“We can’t eradicate it, but we can turn the pandemic into something much less threatening, like influenza or chickenpox, and get on with our lives,” the trio said.
Vaccination first, then reduce restrictions
Vaccination was key. The road map out of the current measures couldn’t begin until more people had been jabbed.
Singapore is set to have given two-thirds of its residents at least one jab within weeks and to have two thirds fully vaccinated by early August.
Singapore has recorded some fully vaccinated locals getting Covid-19, but none of them have had serious symptoms.
The ministers state it’s likely that would continue and booster shots may be necessary.
Testing would also have to be easier and quicker. Self-administered tests, such as breathalysers, should replace the uncomfortable ear bud down the back of the throat method.