Average Interval between Exposure to COVID-19 Case and Issuance of Quarantine Order

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis asked the Minister for Health for Quarantine Orders (QO) that have been issued to persons identified as close contacts of COVID-19 cases (a) what are the average and longest time intervals from the day of their exposure to the infected individual, to the day the QO is served; and (b) how has the average speed of isolating close contacts of COVID-19 cases changed since the start of the year.

As of July 2021, the mean time to issue the QO from notification of case was two days. The longest time interval was 14 days. This happened for a small number of individuals, where it was particularly difficult to trace the contacts of the infected. The mean time in January 2021 was shorter – 1.5 days, as we had fewer daily cases then.

While on the subject, we would like to record our appreciation for the men and women who work 24/7 on the contact tracing and quarantine ops, as they are a vital enabler for our COVID-19 strategy and we urge members of the public to cooperate with their requests for information, so that we can all be better protected.