Chua Kee Leng, Chan Hwang Ching, Somani Jyoti, Lim See Ming
Ministry of Health Holdings, Singapore 139691, Singapore.
Epidemiology Unit, National University Hospital, Singapore 119074, Singapore.
Iran J Public Health. 2025 Apr;54(4):795-800. doi: 10.18502/ijph.v54i4.18417.
We investigated trends in acute respiratory illnesses and influenza activity in Singapore throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Publicly available data from the Ministry of Health, Singapore was used to estimate the number of daily acute respiratory illnesses (ARI) and influenza cases between 2019 and Jun 2023. Overseas travel activity was obtained from the Department of Statistics, Singapore. Trends in ARI and influenza activity during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic with changes in key public health measures were compared.
Pre-pandemic influenza activity exhibited seasonal peaks in Jan and Jul, with daily estimated cases exceeding 40 during these periods. During the early pandemic, influenza cases declined sharply to close to zero and remained at these levels until mid-2022, even after public health measures were eased. ARI cases followed a similar initial decline but gradually returned to pre-pandemic levels by 2023, with peaks occurring outside the usual seasonal pattern. These trends corresponded with phases of public health measures, including mask-wearing and travel restrictions.
Several hypotheses for these contrasting trends were explored, including increased public health awareness, higher influenza vaccination rates, and potential virus-virus interactions.
我们调查了新加坡在整个新冠疫情期间急性呼吸道疾病和流感活动的趋势。
利用新加坡卫生部公开的数据来估算2019年至2023年6月期间每日急性呼吸道疾病（ARI）和流感病例的数量。海外旅行活动数据来自新加坡统计局。比较了新冠疫情不同阶段ARI和流感活动的趋势以及关键公共卫生措施的变化。
疫情前流感活动在1月和7月出现季节性高峰，在此期间每日估计病例数超过40例。在疫情初期，流感病例急剧下降至接近零，并一直维持在这些水平直至2022年年中，即使公共卫生措施有所放宽也是如此。ARI病例起初也有类似下降，但到2023年逐渐恢复到疫情前水平，高峰出现在通常的季节性模式之外。这些趋势与包括佩戴口罩和旅行限制在内的公共卫生措施阶段相对应。
探讨了这些不同趋势的几种假设，包括公众健康意识提高、流感疫苗接种率上升以及潜在的病毒 - 病毒相互作用。
