Why Singapore is preparing to tap the brakes to slow COVID-19 spread

Assoc Prof Hsu Li Yang, Infectious Diseases Programme Leader and Co-Director of the Leadership Institute for Global Health Transformation at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SSHSPH) and Assoc Prof Natasha Howard from SSHSPH and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine noted that a variety of different combinations of interventions aimed at “flattening the epidemic curve” have popped up around the world, but time is needed for these to bear fruit. They added that Singapore’s current approach appears to be working but we must be prepared to quickly implement more restrictive social distancing measures, should COVID-19 case numbers begin to increase significantly.

• CNA Online, 19 March 2020