COVID-19 has peaked in Singapore but doctors watching out for possible surges
Singapore, Jan 6: Doctors in Singapore believe the latest COVID-19 wave has peaked in the country, even as some clinics still face higher than usual patient loads, and doctors are watching out for possible surges in the coming months.
The doctors are seeing cases stabilise, down by around 20 per cent from December, according to a Channel News Asia report on Friday.
However, clinics are already planning for more man power and medication supplies in anticipation of another surge in the months ahead.
Healthway Medical, for instance, now sees an average of 50 to 60 patients come in daily with respiratory infections across its 57 clinics, the report said. COVID-19 and influenza cases make up the bulk of them.
This is around 10 per cent higher than regular patient loads but a slight drop from the peak around Christmas.
"The peak of all the upper respiratory tract infection cases has plateaued. Majority of people have already returned from travelling," CNA quoted head of primary care at Healthway Medical Group Dr John Cheng as saying.
"Most of our clinics actually had enough buffer for all the acute and upper respiratory tract infections to cater for a sudden surge of patient numbers," he said.
"For the end of the year, there will definitely be a surge. And then, most of the time, during festive seasons, during holidays - with more and more people interacting, more travellers (travelling) in and out - we will be expecting some surges during those periods," he said.
OneCare Medical is also seeing cases stabilise across its 38 clinics. It said cases are less likely to go up significantly again in the near term.
"We feel that the ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) has already peaked, so we should see the numbers stabilise and probably slowly come down over the next few weeks, back to the usual baseline numbers," CNA quoted CEO of OneCare Medical Dr Jimmy Chew as saying.
"Of course, if the weather continues to be quite cold, and there continues to be a lot of circulating strains of ARI pathogens, then perhaps we might still see the numbers being sustained," he said.
"With Chinese New Year coming up (February 10), there will still be ongoing gatherings. And of course there are still some travellers travelling, especially those who want to take advantage of the off-peak season," said Chew.
"There might still probably be a bit of infectious diseases still ongoing. But of course, hopefully, we have already seen the peak of ARI cases, so that we will observe a downward trend in the coming weeks," he said.
"I think we need to keep a close surveillance of the situation. So, medication wise, we tend to stock up more prior to the expectation of this peak," said Dr Daniel Soong, medical director at Unihealth Clinic, was quoted as saying by CNA.
"If we notice that there is an increase in cases and caseloads, we might deploy more manpower in our clinic to ease off the waiting time for the patients," Soong said.
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Sanjay Raut demands re-election, alleges irregularities in EVMs during Maharashtra polls
Mumbai, Nov 25: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Monday demanded a re-election in Maharashtra using ballot papers, claiming there were irregularities with the electronic voting machines (EVMs).
Talking to reporters, Raut alleged several complaints about EVMs malfunctioning and questioned the integrity of the recently held elections.
The BJP-led Mahayuti won 230 out of 288 seats in the assembly elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi managed 46 seats, with Shiv Sena (UBT) winning just 20 out of 95 seats it contested.
"We have received nearly 450 complaints regarding EVMs. Despite raising objections repeatedly, no action has been taken on these issues. How can we say these elections were conducted fairly? Hence, I demand that the results be set aside and elections be held again using ballot papers," Raut said.
Citing some instances, he said a candidate in Nashik reportedly received only four votes despite having 65 votes from his family, while in Dombivli, discrepancies were found in EVM tallies, and election officials refused to acknowledge the objections.
The Sena (UBT) leader also questioned the credibility of the landslide victories of some candidates, saying, "What revolutionary work have they done to receive more than 1.5 lakh votes? Even leaders who recently switched parties have become MLAs. This raises suspicions. For the first time, a senior leader like Sharad Pawar has expressed doubts about EVMs, which cannot be ignored."
Asked about the MVA's poor performance in the elections, Raut rejected the idea of blaming a single individual.
"We fought as a united MVA. Even a leader like Sharad Pawar, who commands immense respect in Maharashtra, faced defeat. This shows that we need to analyse the reasons behind the failure. One of the reasons is EVM irregularities and the misuse of the system, unconstitutional practices, and even judicial decisions left unresolved by Justice Chandrachud," he said.
Raut stressed that though internal differences might have existed within the MVA, the failure was collective.
He also accused the Mahayuti of conducting the elections in an unfair manner.
"I cannot call the elections fair given the numerous reports of discrepancies in EVMs, mismatched numbers, and vote irregularities across the state," Raut said.
