Lifting Circuit Breaker Measures and Safeguards to Minimise Risk of Second Wave of COVID-19 Infections

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for Health what lessons can be learnt from other jurisdictions on how to prevent, minimise or manage a second wave of COVID-19 infections as our economy is opened gradually.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Health in view of the low COVID-19 infection rates within our community presently, whether the Ministry will consider (i) allowing all workers and employees whose workplaces meet safe distancing criteria to return to their workstations (ii) re-opening all outdoor sports facilities such as stadiums and swimming pools; and (iii) re-opening all retail malls and food and beverage outlets as long as they can meet safe distancing measures.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Minister for Health whether the Ministry can consider allowing food and beverage outlets to operate for business on 2 June 2020 on the condition that they implement safe distancing among the diners and limit the number of diners per table to a reasonable number.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong asked the Minister for Health (a) of the countries or cities that have recently started relaxing their lockdown or stay at home measures, which ones are Singapore monitoring closely and modelling ourselves after; and (b) what are the lessons that we are learning from them.

Thank you. Members will recall that we implemented the circuit breaker from 7 April, just two months ago. I am sure to some, it feels like two years ago. At that time, the number of COVID-19 cases was rising rapidly, with community cases averaging more than 30 a day, compared to just a handful in early March. This is coupled with an outbreak in the migrant workers' dormitories in early April. The circuit breaker imposed strict safe distancing measures, keeping people at home and only allowing basic essential services to continue. The number of community cases then began to decline and we extended the circuit breaker to 1 June in order to slow the infection further.

We understand the impact that the measures have had on people’s lives and livelihoods. The economy practically came to a standstill. Community activities and social interactions ceased. No one went out except for essentials and work. Stress at home went up. Anxiety of seniors from physical isolation grew. We introduced measures to help Singaporeans cope with the circuit breaker but it was nonetheless a challenging two months.

Overall, the circuit breaker was painful but necessary to slow the transmission in the community. Eventually, the daily number of community cases came down to low single digits towards the end of the circuit breaker. While the number of cases in the dormitories remained high, as pointed out by Mr Murali Pillai, it was partly due to proactive screening as part of our plan to clear the dormitories and prepare the workers to return to work. The situation in the dormitories had come under control. The time had come to begin our journey to resume activities, gradually and cautiously. Let me thank all Singaporeans for your patience and cooperation during the circuit breaker.

However, we must be mindful that there are still infections in dormitories, and there are still undetected cases in the community as evidenced from the unlinked cases we discover from time to time. The global situation has also not fully stabilised. Some countries are seeing a second wave of infection, after reopening their economy and allowing social activities, as pointed out by Mr Christopher de Souza. Therefore, we must remain vigilant even as we exit the circuit breaker.

Mr Chong Kee Hiong and Mr Christopher de Souza asked what we can learn from other countries. The Multi-Ministry Task Force has been monitoring the global situation and learning from the experiences of other jurisdictions, including their strategies for opening the economy and the community.

For example, New Zealand had moved from Alert Level 4, which is their highest alert level, to Level 3 on 28 April, and subsequently transitioned to Level 2 about two weeks later. In making these moves, the authorities took into account factors such as the number of daily cases to ensure the situation is under control, healthcare capacity to ensure the system can cope with potential rise in new cases once the restrictions are relaxed and adequacy of safety measures to prevent transmission.

While the situation differs for different jurisdictions, most have taken a cautious and risk-based approach in lifting restrictions. While workplaces have reopened, many authorities have retained measures to limit social interactions and restrict mixing of households in the early stages of opening, as these are known sources of transmission. Hong Kong, for example, limited social gatherings to eight persons and this has just been extended by two more weeks because of a new cluster. The United Kingdom and Germany limited social gatherings to two persons. Singapore has decided to maintain tight restrictions on social gatherings and household visits in Phase One, except for visits to parents and grandparents. We will allow gatherings of up to five persons in Phase Two initially and possibly relaxing this further if the situation remains under control.

Many countries have also continued with basic preventive measures to reduce the risk of transmission in public places and workplaces and we must do the same. These include safe distancing measures and wearing of masks. Taiwan has made mask-wearing mandatory on public transport and we have done so too. New Zealand allows businesses to operate subject to implementation of measures like maintaining safe separation between patrons, keeping contact tracing registers and regularly disinfecting shared surfaces. Likewise, we require workplace premises that are permitted to open to put in place safe management measures.

Digital solutions have been used in many countries as well, such as Australia, China, Israel and South Korea to support the gradual resumption of activities by enabling faster contact tracing and identification of clusters. Singapore has similarly introduced TraceTogether and SafeEntry.

The last and most important lesson we have learnt from other countries is that we cannot be complacent as there is always the risk of a second wave of the virus. We have seen a steady decline in community cases, to four cases per day in the past week.

But we should be mindful that this is probably the effect of the circuit breaker. We expect to see a rise in new community cases as the activity levels and person-to-person interactions increase after the circuit breaker. The Multi-Ministry Task Force has therefore taken a cautious and graduated approach to ensure safe opening in Phase One.

We have decided to first resume economic activities that do not pose high risk of transmission, such as manufacturing and production operations, and work in office settings which have no or minimal interactions with customers. To keep workers safe, employers are required to put in place safe management measures such as enabling employees to telecommute where possible, avoiding face-to-face contact meetings and ensuring regular disinfection of common touch points and equipment at work premises. At work premises, workers should also avoid social interactions with colleagues, including meal times and break times. One of the areas that has a high risk of transmission is at the pantry area where most workers, while taking a break, are likely to let their guard down. At the same time, they remove their masks in order to enjoy a cup of coffee. So, that area is an area of high risk of transmission and we would like to remind everyone to exercise extra caution when you are at the pantry area and enjoying your break times.

We have also worked with the dormitory operators to strengthen management practices, so that workers can live safely in the dormitories. These include tighter control of entry and exit, measures to limit inter-mixing of residents between blocks and levels, and staggered use of common facilities. Only those workers who have recovered or tested negative will be allowed to leave the dormitories. Even then, it would initially only be for the purpose of work, and with tight arrangements to transport them to and from work. We will also strengthen health surveillance by conducting regular testing of the residents and having them report their health conditions daily. Any residents that test positive and their close contacts will be isolated expeditiously.

While the number of cases we detect among the migrant worker population may remain high for some time, some of them may be past infections and are not active cases.

Schools, student care centres and pre-schools will also reopen progressively, with precautionary measures in place. However, social gatherings are still not allowed, and everyone should only leave home for essential activities and should continue wearing a mask when doing so.

The Multi-Ministry Task Force will closely monitor Phase One. If the community transmission rates remain low and stable, and the dormitory situation continues to be under control, we can move to Phase Two.

In Phase Two, a broader range of activities will resume and we expect most of the economy to be able to reopen. In response to Mr Chong Kee Hiong and Mr Lim Biow Chuan’s questions, retail, food and beverage dine-in services, as well as personal, health and wellness and home-based services will resume in Phase Two, subject to safe management measures being in place. Some may start earlier, others may need a bit more time to put in place the necessary safeguards.

We will also allow small groups to meet up in Phase Two, including dining together, so long as they do not exceed five persons. We will also gradually re-open our borders for Singaporeans to conduct essential activities overseas. We will share more details later, nearer the date.

However, to ensure that we do not undo the efforts of the circuit breaker period, we will continue to adopt a more cautious approach for higher risk activities, such as those involving large numbers of people interacting with one another in enclosed spaces for prolonged periods of time. These include religious services, cultural venues such as arts performances, cinemas, museums and libraries. Nightclubs and bars, karaoke outlets and other public entertainment establishments have similar risk factors. Overseas and local experience has indicated that these settings can seed large clusters of transmission. At least 255 cases were linked to a nightclub cluster in South Korea’s Itaewon entertainment district in early May. In Singapore, the Hero’s Bar cluster is another example. Organisers of these activities and business owners would need to convince relevant agencies that they have robust plans to ensure safety, before we let them open.

If community transmissions remain low and well contained, we will continue to ease measures and even increase the pace until we reach a new COVID-safe normal in Phase Three, which we expect to remain in, until an effective vaccine or treatment is developed.

We understand the anxiety that our people are facing and are acutely aware of the economic and social impact of prolonged closure of various sectors. All of us want to get back to normal as soon as possible, as quickly as possible, and to be able to see our friends and family members whom we have not seen for some time. However, if we resume too many activities too quickly, there is a real risk of a resurgence in the number of COVID-19 cases or clusters, which may require us to re-impose strict measures and slow down the pace of resumption.

As restrictions are eased and more activities resume, it becomes even more critical that each of us exercise strong social responsibility to ensure that community transmission remains low. We need everyone to play their part: wear a mask when outside your home, maintain good personal hygiene and observe safe opening measures. Our combined efforts will help smoothen our journey of safe transition, and together, we can keep Singapore COVID-safe.

The proactive screening of migrant workers in the dormitories will take some time because we have to do it systematically and carefully. They may take up to August or even September. So, we want to do it systematically. But as we do so, when the workers have been cleared through this process, they will then be able to start work. Therefore, we want to make sure that those who are able start work are safe in the community. And therefore, that will allow us to continue the process of opening our economy and if we are safe and remain safe in Phase One, we will then be able to proceed to Phase Two, hopefully – if all goes well – before the end of the month.

Sir, let me just say that I truly appreciate the efforts of MOH in maintaining the safety of our citizens. But I have spoken to various F&B outlets and basically, they are a bit worried and concern whether they are able to sustain the prolong closure of their businesses. So, some of them say, "If you continue like this, we won't be able to open even when you say go ahead and open", because by then they would be insolvent.

I would like to ask the Minister whether MOH can consider bringing forward some of the relaxation of the measures, just like what we did previously when we segregated seats; you label seats that should be left empty to make sure that people would not congregate. I am not asking for nightclubs and bars to be opened because there is where the crowd is, but for some of the F&B outlets to be able to sit a few of the diners. Perhaps, we can look at the examples of Hong Kong, UK and New Zealand and see whether we are able to relax some of our measures, just like they have done.

I thank the Member. We discussed this at length within the Multi-Ministerial Task Force on how we can open safely. There are a lot of requests from different economic sectors and social sectors. We are fully mindful that any prolonged closure of the businesses will have a severe impact. And today, many of the F&B outlets are allowed to do takeaways so they have some ability to sustain a basic level of business activities. But I know that is not enough because they do want to bring back their customers. And there are also F&B outlets that cannot do delivery and so on; it is not economical for them to do so, and therefore they really do want to bring back customers.

But we need to remember that opening F&B is not just allowing the workers to work. It also means that you must allow the customers to go there and eat and dine in. When you allow that, that means you must allow gatherings. And if you allow gathering in the F&B, you must also allow gatherings outside because then it does not make sense to only allow the gatherings in the F&B. Therefore, it will lead to a general opening of the society, of the community and allow social gatherings of certain number of people. This will be a consideration for Phase Two.

Even in Phase Two, we need to look at what are the settings that we will allow earlier opening. As I have mentioned, some of the dining in will probably be earlier, with some safeguards in place. Some of the venues, for example, even religious organisations, we are in discussions with them, we want to engage them to discuss with them what are the safeguards that can be put in place so that they can also open early. But we also understand that because these involve a large number of people in a congregation, and therefore, additional safeguards have to be put in place.

Similarly, for the F&B, we want to reach out and discuss with them what are the measures that we can put in place to ensure safe distancing and minimise mixing. But because it involves the public, consumers in the community, it has to be aligned with the opening of the community, which is generally in Phase Two.

I know everybody wants to be in Phase One, but I need to explain that Phase One is a safe opening phase, which means that it is likely to be very restrictive and we are not prepared to open it up too early, too quickly because that, in fact, may result in more cases emerging and in turn, will require us to re-impose some of the measures and as a result, may differ and slowdown Phase Two.

So, we prefer to keep Phase One safe so that we can open Phase Two safely, and hopefully faster, rather than to delay further because there are cases that will emerge.

We have seen from other countries' experiences. If we open too quickly, the community is not ready, the businesses are not ready, then you will allow infections to seep in and you have to re-introduce some of the measures and as a result, in fact, you will in turn slow down the opening process.

There is a Chinese saying, "欲速则不达". That means we want to make haste but less speed. It is better for us to take a more cautious approach. We fully understand the challenges faced by businesses. We have measures to put in place and we do all we can to make sure that we do not delay the opening so long as we are able to ensure safety.