Singapore and the UK are both planning to 'live with Covid.' They are worlds apart on how to do that

In June, Singaporean lawmakers unveiled the country's roadmap to a"new normal" in a letter published in the Straits Times, outlining a radical departure from Singapore's previous"zero transmission" model.

Weeks later, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck a similar note, predicting that Covid-19 would"become a virus that we learn to live with as we already do with flu." Johnson announced plans to lift almost all coronavirus restrictions, including the mask mandate and social distancing rules, in England on July 19.

After modelling suggested that thousands of people may die if the UK reopened in June, Johnson kicked back the UK's"Freedom Day." Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told Bloomberg on July 9 that Singapore's roadmap diverged considerably from the UK's"big bang approach" to reopening."I think what we want is to take a more middle path," he said, explaining that it was critical to achieve high vaccination rates and"maintain both containment and mitigation measures."

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Johnson defended the reopening plans, saying that the upcoming school holidays would act as a"natural firebreak" to help limit the spread of the virus among children. In its fight against coronavirus, the island state has advantages many larger countries do not: It has a small population that is accustomed to somewhat draconian, top-down rule-making. Additionally, its experience of the 2003 SARS outbreak gave it a 17-year head-start on creating quarantine facilities, building labs and a workforce for the next viral disease.

High levels of vaccine coverage are central to the government's reopening plan. But lawmakers are unsure if they will reach the 90 or 95% coverage needed for herd immunity, Health Minister Ong told Bloomberg."We may get 80%, if we are lucky," he said. As more people are vaccinated in Singapore, the number of infections will be less of a concern, said infectious diseases expert Fisher. Instead of reporting daily infections, the focus should be on how many of those infections translate into hospitalizations and deaths, he added.

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