Health Check Podcast: What does endemic Covid-19 mean?

In this episode, Joyce Teo speaks with Professor Teo Yik Ying, the dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock of Public Health, about living with Covid-19 as an endemic. ST PHOTO

Senior Health Correspondent

Updated

Published

Feb 16, 2022, 06:00 PM

Synopsis: Every first and third Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times helps you make sense of health matters that affect you.

Singapore is in the midst of an Omicron surge, and restrictions such as a maximum group size of five at restaurants remain. People are tired of worrying about Covid-19. Now that the Omicron variant has turned out to be less worrisome than thought, when can we stop talking about Covid-19? How are we going to live with it? What does endemic Covid-19 mean?

In this episode, Joyce Teo, a senior health correspondent with The Straits Times, speaks with Professor Teo Yik Ying, the dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock of Public Health. Prof Teo trained as a mathematician at Imperial College, London, and did his masters and PhD in statistics at Oxford University in the UK.

Highlights (click/tap above):

01:06 Covid-19 is a less dangerous disease now

03:47 We are all going to catch Covid-19

05:01 The future of masks and social distancing

08:37 Daily case numbers can be ignored

15:17 Mild symptoms can feel awful too

Listen to Ep 78 ft Prof Teo: Does Singapore need a 4th shot? https://omny.fm/shows/health-check-1/do-we-need-a-fourth-covid-shot-hea…

Produced by: Joyce Teo (joyceteo@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Teo Tong Kai and Fa'izah Sani

Edited by: Teo Tong Kai and Fa'izah Sani

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