Singapore’s National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) told the state media that the government is now freeing up hospital beds by discharging COVID-19 positive patients:
“Knowing that Covid-19 patients could be discharged after a certain number of days with no danger of infecting others could free up healthcare resources for other purposes.”
The Singapore government said patients will be discharged based on the length of time they spent in the quarantine facilities:
“If we use a time-based discharge policy of two weeks from onset of infection or first positive test, then the community care facilities (CCFs) would be emptied out faster. More healthcare workers and administrators can also be freed up for other duties.”
The news came after the Ministry of Health discharged 18 positive patients and claimed that they are “no longer infectious”:
“On May 15, 18 patients were discharged from the D’Resort community isolation facility without those consecutive tests after they were deemed to be non-infectious to others. They had been in the facility between 38 and 51 days.”
The WHO official who was rewarded a directorship at NUH for praising Singapore, Dale Fisher, said “science is not 100% right”:
“You look at the science, bearing in mind that science isn’t 100 per cent right, factor in how much insurance you want to build in and choose a day of discharge that is safe and efficient. But there is also room for flexibility.”
There has been no update from the health ministry, how many patients who tested positive has been discharged. The ruling party dictatorship yesterday boasted that the number of discharge patients have exceeded new infections. However, 642 new cases were reported yesterday. Singapore have the Asia’s highest daily new cases.