More than a fifth of Covid-19 cases had gone out while sick: MOH

More than one in five coronavirus patients continued to go to work or socialise even after they were unwell.

Expressing his concern yesterday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong urged Singaporeans to practise social responsibility to avoid contributing to the spread of Covid-19 here.

He revealed that 35 of the 160 confirmed cases as of Monday, or about 22 per cent, had not minimised social contact and continued to work or carried on with their daily routines even after developing a fever or respiratory symptoms.

Mr Gan, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force on Covid-19, said at a press conference that many of the locally transmitted cases were a result of the socially irresponsible actions of a few individuals.

"(They) continued to go to work, and attended events and participated in activities despite being unwell, and went on to spread the disease to their family, friends and other contacts," he said.

He said such behaviour was seen in a few of the local clusters, such as the Wizlearn Technologies and the Safra Jurong private dinner clusters.

The Safra cluster is now the largest with 39 confirmed cases so far, with three of the six new infections yesterday linked to it.

Of the 14 confirmed cases linked to e-learning solutions company Wizlearn Technologies at Science Park, nine are staff members. Three of them continued with their daily activities despite being unwell.

One of the employees spread the virus to a family contact, who also carried on with daily activities while symptomatic.

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This resulted in four other people who did not work in the company getting infected, said Mr Gan.

In the case of the Safra Jurong cluster, a person who was already unwell attended a private dinner at Joy Garden Restaurant on Feb 15 and subsequently tested positive.

"This could have resulted in 18 additional cases who were at the dinner," added Mr Gan.

In turn, 10 of the 18 people continued with their daily activities even though they were sick, resulting in another 17 people who were not at the dinner getting infected.

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"This socially irresponsible behaviour poses a risk to all of us. The measures we have implemented will work only if individuals cooperate and engage in a socially responsible manner.

"So please work together with us, so that we can keep our family and loved ones safe," he said.

Mr Gan noted that some of the patients did not consult a doctor early despite being unwell.

The Ministry of Health has reminded that anyone who is unwell, even with mild flu-like symptoms, should see a doctor and stay at home to prevent spreading the illness to others.

Mr Gan also advised the public to refrain from doctor-hopping so the same doctor can follow up on the case and make an appropriate assessment if a case needs to be tested for Covid-19.

Mr Gan said 38 patients had visited more than one general practitioner (GP) clinic, and eight of them visited three or more GP clinics.

He said government agencies will suspend all social activities for senior citizens for 14 days from today as the elderly are particular vulnerable to Covid-19.

For example, the dinner at Safra Jurong was attended mainly by seniors who also took part in singing classes and other activities at community clubs and residents' committee centres.

Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force, said the authorities will also look at a fuller range of social distancing measures as the disease continues to spread globally.

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These include school closures, staggered hours at workplaces, telecommuting, as well as measures put in place at public events, community activities and religious services.

"We are mindful that these measures can be very disruptive to the lives of Singaporeans," said Mr Wong.

"If you were to do all of them at one time, we will literally have to shut down our city and everything would grind to a halt.

"If you were to start some of them too early, people may become fatigued and then you cannot sustain the measures, and then (they) will not be effective either."

For measures such as school closures, Mr Wong said parents will be given sufficient lead time to prepare.

He stressed that getting the measures right and applying them at the right time are critical.

"By doing so, we put in brakes to try and stop... or slow down the transmission chain and flatten the epidemic curve," Mr Wong said.

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This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.