Debated in Parliament on 2 Nov 2020.
Ms He Ting Ru asked the Minister for Health (a) how much has been spent on developing (i) the SafeEntry system (ii) the TraceTogether app and (iii) the TraceTogether tokens including their production and distribution; and (b) whether the Ministry has allocated funds for, or envisages further developmental costs associated with, such contact tracing systems and, if so, how much it is estimated to cost.
SafeEntry and TraceTogether are important digital contact tracing tools that augment and improve our contact tracing capabilities. They work together to provide the initial list of close contacts of COVID-19 positive cases for our contract tracing teams to work on. This has enabled us to reduce the time taken to identify and isolate a close contact from four days to less than two days. This is essential to limit the spread of COVID-19 as it breaks the chains of disease transmission and limits the potential for large clusters and multiple generations of spread. As at September 2020, we have spent $2.4 million on developing the TraceTogether app; $5.2 million for SafeEntry; and $6.2 million for development and procurement of TraceTogether Tokens.
Beyond this, we will continue to invest in enhancing SafeEntry and TraceTogether, such as exploring potential solutions to improve the convenience of SafeEntry check-ins, and also to acquire more TT tokens to meet the needs of our population. The actual amount spent will depend on several factors, including the actual number of residents who need a token.
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