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SINGAPORE: Mohammed Zakaria reveals how ‘aggressive’ vaccination drive has helped him learn to live with COVID

In this special series ordinary people across the world share stories of their struggle to survive in a pandemic world. Late in 2019 a mysterious illness emerged at a seafood and poultry market in the sprawling capital of Central China’s Hubei province. The growing outbreak was reported to the World Health Organisation on December 31, which confirmed a novel coronavirus was the cause of the respiratory illness in a cluster of people on January 12, 2020. COVID-19 was officially first detected in Singapore on January 23, 2020, when a Wuhan resident who arrived in the country with his family three days prior tested positive for the virus. Suspected cases were, however, reported in the city-state as early as January 4 when a three-year-old Chinese national with pneumonia and a recent travel history to Wuhan developed symptoms. The first deaths to COVID were recorded on March 21 — a 64-year-old Indonesian national who was admitted to intensive care a week prior after arriving in Singapore from Indonesia and a 75-year-old Singaporean woman with a history of chronic heart disease and hypertension. The woman — who would become known as Case 90 — was linked to an emerging cluster at The Life Church and Missions Singapore. The virus spread quickly over subsequent months, with several factors contributing to the island’s vulnerability — not least of which were its bilateral economic ties with China. China is Singapore’s biggest trading partner, and Singapore China’s biggest foreign investor, with Chinese Singaporeans making up the majority of the country’s population. These connections contribute to an influx of familial, diplomatic and business travel between the countries, increasing the likelihood of transmission from the virus’ original epicentre. Singapore is also a global tourist hub and thoroughfare for transiting travellers, making it a high-traffic area. Once COVID breached Singaporean borders, its high population density with almost seven million residents crammed into just 728sqkm of land made community spread inevitable. However, with a solid pandemic plan in place that had been put into practice during the 2003 Severe acute respiratory syndrome — or SARS — crisis, Singapore already had a strong precedent set to help guide its response to the outbreak. Like Australia, Singapore has largely followed a zero-transmission model. Singapore’s Ministry of Health acted quickly once it became aware of the Wuhan outbreak, and announced all inbound travellers from the virus epicentre beginning January 3. From January 22 the MOH screened the temperatures of all travellers from China in anticipation of an expected influx of travellers during Chinese New Year. Those with pneumonia and a history of travel to China within 14 days were immediately isolated. A dedicated multi-ministry taskforce was formed to oversee the pandemic plan . As the first COVID wave surged Singapore enacted the COVID-19 Control Order, wherein strict measures — collectively called the “circuit breaker lockdown” — began from the beginning of April 2020. On May 19, 2020, the taskforce announced a three-phased approach to resume activities safely with the gradual re-opening of economic activities in each phase. While Singapore successfully reached Phase 3 by the end of the year, the Delta variant outbreak pushed the country back to Phase 2 on May 8, 2021. The country has now been in a “Preparatory Stage of Transition” since August 10, largely possible due to its high vaccination numbers. A strong focus was placed on mass Pfizer and Moderna vaccination drives early on, and with the city-state now more than 80 per cent double-jabbed Singapore has become one of the most fully vaccinated countries in the world. These high vaccination rates combined with relatively low death rates has put Singapore in the perfect position to realise its “learning to live with COVID-19” exit strategy. Announced in June, the Singapore Government said it would move away from stringent measures such as strict lockdowns and border closures, and instead planned to focus on tracking and treating outbreak clusters with vaccinations and hospital admissions. However, last weekend the island experienced a surge in infections, surpassing the 1000 case mark with 1012 cases on Saturday and 1009 on Sunday — the highest numbers since April last year. The timing of the Government’s relaxation of restrictions combined with the rise of the Delta variant could have created the perfect storm to test what has so far been a gold standard response to the COVID outbreak. Content strategist Mohammed Zakaria reveals his concern as case numbers grow in Singapore, but is confident that even with COVID-19 continuing to circulate within the community the Government’s aggressive vaccination strategy has put the country in good stead to manage outbreaks with low hospitalisations and deaths. MOHAMMED ZAKARIA, 36, CONTENT STRATEGIST, SINGAPORE ‘Learning to live with COVID’ Currently, Singapore is going through a Pre-Endemic Transition Place. The restrictions are less strict, but people are still nervous because the numbers have surpassed 1000, mainly because of the Delta variant. However, the Government feels that this is to be expected as we transition and accept COVID as endemic. People are now allowed to eat outside in groups of up to five. Travel lanes have been opened up with Brunei and Germany for the fully vaccinated. And those who — despite being vaccinated — do get infected with COVID-19 are now able to recover at home instead of a hotel or care facility. ‘Singapore is aggressive with vaccination’ Things seem pretty regular. I go to the office every alternate week. If I am not feeling well, I would stay at home to self-isolate. But luckily I have not been sick with COVID and neither has anyone close to me. I think we are quite fortunate as the numbers in ICU are manageable and life seems pretty normal compared to the region. The State has managed the overall vaccination drive well. I have been vaccinated — which was quite easy and convenient to do. Singapore is quite aggressive with this vaccination drive and has achieved more than 80 per cent in the country. Right now the motto is to test, trace and vaccinate. ‘Mental health is a big concern’ I think we have gotten used to the changes, but there is this air of uncertainty and also a feeling of anxiety keeping up with the changes and rulings. I am mostly worried about small businesses and how they will cope with the impact of lack of consumer demand. Mental health is a big concern, trying to get the confidence to live life normally again. WHO OFFICIAL STATISTICS (AS AT SEPTEMBER 21, 2021) SINGAPORE GLOBAL

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SINGAPORE: Mohammed Zakaria reveals how ‘aggressive’ vaccination drive has helped him learn to live with COVID

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SINGAPORE: Mohammed Zakaria reveals how ‘aggressive’ vaccination drive has helped him learn to live with COVID