Singapore (CU)_ According to Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung , a fresh Omicron wave might potentially emerge in Singapore in July or August as COVID-19 antibodies begin to fade. Speaking on the sidelines of a visit to a future sports and community center in Bukit Canberra, Mr. Ong stated that the Ministry of Health had identified a few COVID-19 cases of the new BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.
Referring to the Omicron strain that accounted for 99% of the local COVID-19 infections recorded in April, Mr. Ong said that it has not surpassed the BA.2 subvariant. Mr Ong said, “The reason is because we all have very high antibodies, because of our vaccination, because of our recent Omicron wave. So nothing will happen until months later, when our antibodies start to wane, then you can see BA.4 and (BA.5) possibly emerging in July or August. That’s our estimate”.
Mr Ong said that the predicted timeline is not the result of a complex modeling effort, but rather the reality that, after one epidemic diminishes, Singapore should anticipate a second wave to emerge after four to six months. Mr Ong said, “And the most dominant wave will rise, and by then I think it would be BA.4 or BA.5”. BA.4 and BA.5 are the two key subvariants of Omicron responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 wave in South Africa. They have been labeled as variations of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
According to MOH, Singapore discovered three community cases of the two subvariants in May, with two cases having the BA.4 variant and one case involving the BA.5 strain. Mr. Ong stated that Singapore should continuously observe the United States and Europe, since the next COVID-19 wave would most probably occur in these regions before entering Singapore. He said, “The most important thing is not the case numbers, but how many people fall severely ill. I do believe with our strong resilience, we can ride through a BA.4 and BA.5 wave”.
