Coronavirus Singapore: 100 to 1,000 infections in one month. What happened?
- Despite the city state’s strict contact-tracing, quarantining and travel restrictions, a second wave of infections from returning residents and local transmissions saw cases spike from 100 to 1,000 in one month
- Experts say people need to take social distancing more seriously
What a difference a month can make. At the beginning of March, Singapore had just over 100 coronavirus infections and countries across the world looked to the Southeast Asian city state for inspiration. Its aggressive contact tracing, strict quarantine procedures and measured travel restrictions received praise, as did its world-leading testing rates (as of March 25 it had carried out 6,800 tests per million people, more than other ‘leaders’ such as South Korea at 6,500 and Taiwan, at 1,000).
Indeed, if anything there may have been a touch of envy overseas at how this small but efficient country was managing to keep infections so low, even while keeping its schools and malls open and enjoying a semblance of normal life.
Throughout February, the number of new infections a day had stayed within single digits. On April 1 alone, there were 74 new cases. April 2 brought a further 49 infections and a fourth death, though 266 people in total had fully recovered from the illness.
How did this happen?
THE SECOND WAVE
