S'pore facing ‘snakes and ladders' situation over Omicron: Ong

If variant is more infectious and harmful, it’ll be like landing on a ‘snake’ and set country back

- Linette Lai

The Covid-19 situation in Singapore can be compared to a game of snakes and ladders, with the Omicron variant determining if the country remains on track to living with the virus, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung yesterday.

If it is more infectious and harmful than other existing variants, and if current vaccines do not work well against it, the country would have landed on a “snake”.

“We will go down, and it will set us back a long way,” said Mr Ong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force tackling the pandemic.

If the variant proves to be milder but more infectious, it could become dominant over the Delta variant – a positive sign which could enable Singapore to leap forward in its efforts to treat Covid-19 as an endemic disease.

“We don’t know what’s the next throw of the dice and which square we will land in,” the minister said at a press conference.