MOH eases COVID-19 reporting, pivots comms strategy towards endemic phase

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The Ministry of Health (MOH) has stopped issuing daily press releases on COVID-19 infection statistics as part of its communications strategy, as Singapore looks to transition to endemic living. According to MOH, the move comes as the current wave of Delta infections subsides. The press releases had previously provided information on the local COVID-19 situation, such as the number of COVID-19 cases, the status of COVID-19 patients, hospital capacity and vaccination progress.

MOH added that it will continue to provide this information, along with updates on the latest Omicron variant, on its website and it will remain accessible to the public.

Furthermore, MOH said that it will also continue to monitor the week-on-week infection growth ratio in Singapore. "During the present wave of infection, we wanted to ensure that the ratio was below one before we eased any restrictions. As the present wave subsides and infection numbers start to stabilise, we can expect the ratio to trend towards one," MOH said. Should the numbers rise beyond one on a sustained basis, it would indicate the possibility of a new wave of transmission.

MOH's COVID-19 communication strategy started in June this year when it said that it will cease to disclose details of each new COVID-19 case detected in the community, according to The Business Times (BT). This included information on individuals' ages and occupations, the places they visited and the dates on which they tested positive. Instead, MOH's update would detail the progress made in the nationwide vaccination scheme, in addition to daily case numbers, BT reported.

Later in September, MOH said stopped reporting the number of linked and unlinked new COVID-19 cases, according to Channel NewsAsia. Instead, it shifted its focus towards the number of cases hospitalised with severe illness, and in the intensive care unit to ensure that hospitals are not overwhelmed. According to CNA, MOH also said that only information on large emerging clusters would be reported so that the public could avoid those places or monitor their activities. At the same time, MOH started to provide only one update per day, as opposed to twice a day previously, CNA reported.

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