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Over 5,000 people here would have been infected with COVID-19 by now, if not for Singapore’s tough measures such as contact tracing and quarantines. As of 19 March, the total number of cases in Singapore is 345. “Right now, cases are sufficiently low, so the Government is able to put a lot of effort into contact tracing,” said Associate Professor Alex Cook, Vice Dean (Research) and Domain Leader (Biostatistics and Modelling). This, together with other measures such as border checks, has managed to reduce the transmission rate of the diseaseRead more

Countries thought to be recovering from the COVID-19 outbreak, like China and Singapore, remain susceptible and can expect a likely surge in imported cases and new outbreaks. This is especially so given the growing numbers in Europe, North America and several countries in the Middle East, along with cases arising in African and South American countries. How can we end, or at least manage, this pandemic? The answer lies in trying to convert a ‘tsunami’ into multiple smaller and manageable ‘waves’, wrote Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (InfectiousRead more

Singapore has worked a number of calibrated responses that can be divided into three broad buckets, said Associate Professor Jeremy Lim, Co-Director of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation (LIGHT). “Firstly, we sought very hard to reduce the number of cases that are imported from overseas. Secondly, there was a very strenuous effort to identify local cases quickly and to minimise community spread. And thirdly, social distancing measures were also put in place to mitigate the impact of any community spread,” he said. He was speaking on The World,Read more

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last week that the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore is likely to continue for at least a year, unlike SARS which lasted four months here. Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases), Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang elaborates on some key features of the COVID-19 pandemic that may be less well-known and what they mean for how Singapore tackles the outbreak. He wrote: “It is unlikely that the threat from Sars-CoV-2 will end in 2020, and may not entirely be dispelled even if an effective vaccine became available nextRead more

Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been hailed for using our experience with SARS to combat the current COVID-19. “Somewhat perversely, we can look at SARS as the dress rehearsal,” said Associate Professor Jeremy Lim, Co-Director, Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation (LIGHT). “The experience was raw, and very, very visceral. And on the back of [it], better systems were put in place.” While it is still too early for anywhere to declare victory, we have managed to keep numbers low so far, with praise for our quick response, rigorousRead more

For a global take on the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Economic Forum collected insights from academics within leading universities, including Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying. “Individual responsibility sits at the heart of managing the current situation with COVID-19, as our actions determine whether the transmission chain is successfully halted or regrettably magnified,” said Prof Teo. Read his advice and comments from the deans of Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Zhejiang University’s School of Public Health, here: ‘Over-reacting is better than non-reacting’ – academics around the world shareRead more

In line with their responsibilities as signatories to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), many low- and lower-middle income countries are working hard to provide better health and well-being for their people. As governments struggle to keep up with rising health expenditures, especially in resource-constrained settings, the need for evidence-informed decision-making for improved health provisioning is only growing more critical. There has been expanding interest in Health Technology Assessment (HTA) as an important method of guiding these policy decisions, especially in terms of priority-setting and designing benefits packages, which effectively andRead more

Among those infected with the virus, older adults with pre-existing heart conditions or hypertension face a sharply higher risk. In Singapore, nearly one in two confirmed coronavirus patients is aged 50 and above. Out of 178 patients as of 11 March, 41 of them are in their 50s, 30 are in their 60s and 10 are aged 70 and above. “The elderly, as well as those with chronic medical conditions such as heart and lung disease, have generally been more vulnerable to infections, including other more common bacterial infections andRead more

The School’s Public Health Translational Team (PHTT) collates the evidence base, reviews literature relevant to the outbreak, and produces the weekly COVID-19 Science Report. In addition to maintaining a knowledge base to support policymaking, the School also supports the Ministry of Health and other agencies in other ways, such as modelling the epidemiology of the virus.

“COVID-19 seems to have the best, or the worst, of both worlds. Because it spreads very efficiently, it doesn’t kill as many people; but the percentage it kills is far higher than the common flu,” said Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, Programme Leader (Infectious Diseases). He was comparing COVID-19 to influenza for Mothership’s ‘Experts Explain’ series. Assoc Prof Hsu clarified that there are two types of coronaviruses, human coronaviruses, which cause the common flu, and animal coronaviruses, which “rarely jump over to (infect) humans”. On COVID-19 being the ‘new normal’,Read more

Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying was invited by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) to give a seminar about Singapore’s approach to COVID-19. He shared the lessons that our country had learnt from the SARS outbreak in 2003, and presented the multi-prong measures put in place to deal with the current COVID-19 outbreak. The seminar was held on Monday, 9 March 2020 and live-streamed on LSHTM’s website. The session was hosted by the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team (UK-PHRST), a partnership between LSHTM and Public HealthRead more

On Monday, 9 March 2020, The Straits Times (ST) held a special edition of its Big Story panel discussion to focus on the COVID-19 outbreak and what lies ahead for Singapore. Moderated by ST senior health correspondent Ms Salma Khalik, the panel comprised four experts: Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, Director of Medical Services at the Ministry of Health, Singapore (MOH) Professor Leo Yee Sin, Executive Director of the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, and Adjunct Professor at SSHSPH Professor Tikki Pangestu, visiting professor at NUS Lee Kuan Yew School ofRead more