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10 min ago
Singapore had a model coronavirus response, then cases spiked. What happened?
Analysis from CNN's James Griffiths
A security guard checks the temperature of a migrant worker leaving a dormitory on April 17, in Singapore. Ore Huiying/Getty Images
Less than a month ago, Singapore was being hailed as one of the countries that had got its coronavirus response right.
Encouragingly for the rest of the world, the city-state seemed to have suppressed cases without imposing the restrictive lockdown measures endured by millions elsewhere.
And then the second wave hit, hard. Since March 17, Singapore's number of confirmed coronavirus cases grew from 266 to over 5,900, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
So what went wrong?
Migrant workers: The answer appears to lie in overlooked clusters of cases among migrant workers living in cramped dormitories and an underestimation of the speed at which those infections could spread through a city where lockdown measures had not been put in place.
Life as normal: Because Singapore was testing widely and isolating all those who were potentially contagious, it was able to remain relatively open and continue functioning as usual.
This attitude was only viable if infections from overseas were kept out, and new potential cases were detected and dealt with quickly.
Rapid spread: Once this measure failed, the speed at which the virus could pass from person to person was greater than it would be in a place with heavy lockdown and social distancing measures.
For more on how Singapore's experience shows relaxing too soon can backfire, read here:
RELATED
Singapore had a model coronavirus response, then cases spiked. What happened?
Singapore had a model coronavirus response, then cases spiked. What happened?
Analysis from CNN's James Griffiths
A security guard checks the temperature of a migrant worker leaving a dormitory on April 17, in Singapore. Ore Huiying/Getty Images
Less than a month ago, Singapore was being hailed as one of the countries that had got its coronavirus response right.
Encouragingly for the rest of the world, the city-state seemed to have suppressed cases without imposing the restrictive lockdown measures endured by millions elsewhere.
And then the second wave hit, hard. Since March 17, Singapore's number of confirmed coronavirus cases grew from 266 to over 5,900, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
So what went wrong?
Migrant workers: The answer appears to lie in overlooked clusters of cases among migrant workers living in cramped dormitories and an underestimation of the speed at which those infections could spread through a city where lockdown measures had not been put in place.
Life as normal: Because Singapore was testing widely and isolating all those who were potentially contagious, it was able to remain relatively open and continue functioning as usual.
This attitude was only viable if infections from overseas were kept out, and new potential cases were detected and dealt with quickly.
Rapid spread: Once this measure failed, the speed at which the virus could pass from person to person was greater than it would be in a place with heavy lockdown and social distancing measures.
For more on how Singapore's experience shows relaxing too soon can backfire, read here:
RELATED
Singapore had a model coronavirus response, then cases spiked. What happened?
