Singapore's COVID-19 Response

Mr Speaker, unlike SARS in 2003, which caused serious illnesses but was well contained within infected groups, or the H1N1 flu virus in 2009, which was contagious but mild, COVID-19 was both contagious and prone to severe symptoms in high-risk groups, especially our seniors. This led to a pandemic of a generation, affecting Singaporeans in an unprecedented way for almost three years.

I thank the team from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for drawing up a review and interviews with key participants in the crisis, including our Ministers, civil servants and representatives from the public, private and people sectors to encapsulate the key events, major issues and, more importantly, the lessons to be drawn and how we can prepare Singapore for the next pandemic or crisis in this White Paper.

Relative to many other countries, we have done well in protecting both lives and livelihoods.

Singapore's vaccination rates are among the highest in the world, thanks to a high level of trust that our people continue to place in the Government – a trust that is hard-earned and never to be taken for granted, as Minister of State Sun Xueling just mentioned in her speech.

Our overall case fatality rate is one of the lowest globally. Still, we must always stay alert, nimble and adaptable to prepare for new challenges and nasty surprises.

I agree with most of the reflections in the White Paper and will like to raise two areas of focus to fortify and protect Singapore and Singaporeans when another crisis of similar magnitude hits us. They are: one, comprehensively supporting all vulnerable groups, including transient residents like migrant workers in Singapore; and two, proliferating the use of telehealth in the management of illnesses, especially chronic diseases, including mental wellness support.

Firstly, social and community support for vulnerable groups.

An impressive $593 million was disbursed to around 480,000 unique beneficiaries across the pandemic period. They were given in the forms of Temporary Relief Fund, COVID-19 Support Grant, COVID-19 Recovery Grant - Temporary and COVID-19 Recovery Grant.

What was most uplifting to me is that over 288 non-governmental groups and ground-ups partnered the Government to support the community, especially the vulnerable.

The saying "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, and life is after all a chain" by William James, an American historian and psychologist, reminds us of the importance of looking out for the vulnerable groups in our midst, especially during crisis times.

Several Members of this House have spoken up about the clusters that emerged among the migrant worker dormitories and how transmission persisted and infection among migrants workers grew exponentially during the pandemic. This took most Singaporeans by surprise and shone a light on the living conditions of migrant workers.

I am grateful to volunteer-run groups like Welcome In My Backyard (Wimby), COVID-19 Migrant Support Coalition (CMSC) and food-related initiative WeEat for their spirited actions during the most difficult times to bring much needed relief and support to our migrant workers.

I also appreciate the swift actions taken by the Government, including improving standards of new dormitories for migrant workers and setting up a new MOM division to support migrant workers and dormitory operations. I am also very thankful to hear from the Minister for Manpower earlier on his comprehensive updates on what MOM has and will continue to do to ensure dormitory standards.

I hope that this lesson will propel the Government to conduct a systematic scan during "peace time" to scrutinise every sector where lower-cost workers, including migrant ones, are employed to ensure that their employers or agents are regulated and made responsible to provide a certain standard of living, employee welfare and resources to integrate them in the community that they are working in, including the community around their work sites or dormitories.

The next group of vulnerable individuals who suffered during the pandemic were children in families with family violence.

I read with great dismay of the jump in the number of cases reported during the pandemic. From 7 April to 6 May 2020, there were 476 Police reports filed for offences commonly associated with family violence. This was a 22% increase compared with the monthly average of about 389 of such cases before the circuit breaker, according to the Police then.

Some partners in social service agencies related to me their concerns and their constraints during those times to respond due to stay-home and safe-distancing measures. More flexibility for social workers and MSF having rights to remove children and family members suffering from family violence during times of crisis must be considered and instituted.

I am grateful to hear from the Minister of State Sun Xueling that efforts are being done by the Taskforce on Family Violence and will be progressively implemented.

Moving on to proliferating the use of telehealth, I spoke about more use and subsidy support of telehealth and digital modes that augment physical and mental health support in several of my speeches in this House. One of the recent breakthrough in the form of Chronic Disease Management Programme (CDMP) allowing the use of CHAS subsidies and MediSave for outpatient treatment via approved telehealth, like video-consultation, needs to be followed through with faster scaling and proliferation of proven telehealth protocols in the treatment of illnesses, especially chronic diseases, including mental illnesses.

As our population continues to age, mobility issues of more seniors are likely to increase, and the use of hybrid physical and remote telehealth treatment protocols will be of increasing importance. The Government should take the inflexion in adoption of telehealth during the pandemic that we used to protect patients to push on in shaping such healthcare treatment and support as a new norm. This will also address the healthcare workers shortage and over-worked problems, though it will require short-term technology capital investment and change management processes for clinicians and patients.

In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I am proud of how Singapore, our people, our leaders especially those on the Multi-Ministry Task Force, our Government and many unsung heroes have pulled strengths together to not only brace through but emerge strong after a difficult three years of pandemic. My heartfelt thanks again to everyone who has contributed one way or another in the fight of the COVID-19 pandemic. My suggestions notwithstanding, Sir, I support the Motion.

Sir, first, let me declare my interest as Group CEO of NTUC Enterprise. Mr Speaker, Sir, it is important to remember lessons when they are fresh and I, therefore, congratulate the Government for its decision to write and to publish this White Paper, because it records our successes, our mistakes, our missteps, as well as the justifications of our key decisions.

In leadership of human affairs, there is no do-over – there is only one chance to get it right. And this is why it is so important that when we get it wrong, we make sure that it happens only once and we do it better the next time. That is not to say that we will not make mistakes but let us make new ones and not repeat the ones of history. Only in this way can Singapore progress and emerge stronger from each crisis.

That Singapore had weathered the storm is unmistakable, but the reasons we did so may be less clear.

I count at least three, the third of which is often overlooked: first, our people; second, our money; and third, sheer luck. We should not discount the role of luck, for only by acknowledging the role of luck can we keep ourselves from hubris and from underestimating the complexity, the ambiguity and the extraordinariness of future events.

The White Paper holds many useful operational lessons that I am sure will stand us in good stead in time to come. The most valuable lesson to me, however, is a reminder of the importance of the human dimension.

Here, I want to pay tribute to all essential and frontline workers – from cleaners to delivery workers to those working in healthcare, transport, education, social work, and yes, also supermarkets – many of whom had toiled for many years and mostly taken for granted by all of us. I hope also that our appreciation to this group of workers does not subside now that this pandemic is over and that we are back to DORSCON Green.

Indeed, the pandemic showed how important, how underrated, and how under-appreciated they were, and how we need an overhaul of the way we organise our world – from wages to social and economic structures, from the way we live, to the way we allocate resources. It is now a time to see that while praise and awards are good, equitable pay and respect for each other, for work, are better.

One of my proudest moments was in the way we reacted in the early days of the pandemic – how we offered free healthcare to anyone struck by COVID-19, regardless of race, nationality or means; how we, being one of the first countries to obtain the vaccine, prioritised according to needs, offering the earliest doses to the elderly and the migrant workers living in dense quarters.

I was also proud of the way we opened our hearts and our doors to the migrant workers. It was a mistake not to have anticipated the intensity of the outbreak in the dormitories – it meant that nearly half of the 300,000 workers living in dormitories had been infected by 2020. Sadly, two workers died.

At the same time, there were many, many in the community who jumped in to help. I cite one example of NUS who opened their hostels to migrant workers, housing hundreds of them within the halls of residence.

Students were briefed about the COVID-19 situation in the workers' dormitories and why they needed to share their hostels. Rather than a fear of infection and resistance to strangers living in their midst, the students worked to make the workers feel welcome. Sports teams conducted online morning personal training every day, just like our National Service times. Others held classes to teach them about financial scams. Still others recorded video messages to show their support.

The human touch was abundantly evident. When doctors working on the ground at the dormitories called for volunteer translators, students from different countries – India, China, Myanmar, Thailand – all took turns to translate these instructions. When the workers finished their stay at the hostels, they were treated to a "graduation" ceremony, where they took photos with the university mascots.

In a real way, I feel our students graduated too, and from a far higher-ranked university than NUS.

I also want to reflect on our darker moments. It was indeed confusing when we changed course and took both too much and too little risk. Our safe distancing measures – gathering in groups of two, five, eight, and then back to two – these were a reflection of the dynamic nature of the pandemic. Reality was fast-moving and so too was our response.

The key was to explain and communicate, continuously and quickly. We may not have always succeeded but the high trust that we had in each other was a key reason we managed some degree of calm and order. The people trusted that we were doing our best as a Government and the Government trusted that people were doing their best to follow fast-changing rules and guidelines. The business community also played their part and the whole Singaporean community also played their part; we all came together, and together, we reaped the returns of the trust, the faith that we had built over the years.

Indeed, during the day when DORSCON Orange was declared, when Malaysia announced their Movement Control Order and when we announced our circuit breaker, these were pivotal moments where our trust and our faith and our bonds – these were tested in full force.

Wearing my NTUC Fairprice hat at that time, and working with the Government and the media, we had to assuage genuine fears and anxieties of the general public, among many messages, that supermarkets will remain open, that stocks are available, and if they were not, they were on the way. And at the same time, seeking the understanding and support of the public to only buy what they need and not create their own stockpiles.

Despite best efforts on both sides, however, there were times of genuine confusion, not to say fear or anger, over the application of the rules to eating places and coffee shops, which caused a lot of confusion and sometimes disputes. Businesses were quite badly affected too. I know, as our NTUC FoodFare and our Kopitiam chains were also caught in this spiral.

I did raise these issues at the time, but when emotions, fear and uncertainty ran high, and in the trade-off between lives and livelihoods, one would swing on the side of conservatism and safety. We made the right call to be cautious, but we must also be aware of the costs incurred.

In a pandemic, no amount of reassurance and communications can eradicate the fear and anxiety we faced. At the same time, we need a healthy dose of agnosticism in the face of so much that we do not know – we recognise that our injunction against mask wearing was over-done. It was hubris to think we knew what was unknowable, at that time.

And here, I want to acknowledge that it was plain good luck that we were not hit by a deep and severe spread during the "no need for masks" early days, and that when COVID-19 hit us in full force later on, we already had our masks and we had our sanitisers.

However, it was not luck that allowed us to restock our supermarket shelves overnight. After the onslaught of panic buying, it was not luck that enabled the Government to inject money into our system without borrowing. It was also not luck that we got supplies of drugs, food and vaccines – for a country that imports 90% of our food, we never once went hungry.

All these were possible because of, one could say, plain and boring virtues – very Singaporean things, like long-term planning, careful husbandry of Reserves, technocratic, technical and engineering capabilities during decades of peace and prosperity, hoarded for this one-time use.

This is not just the domain of Government. There are many other partners in the community who spent their reserves too. NTUC was one among many which did our part. In 2020, the NTUC Enterprise group of social enterprises rolled out a $50-million package to provide holistic support for Singaporeans to cope with the pandemic. In the following year, another $20 million was committed to help the community tide over the second year of the pandemic.

These initiatives have benefited the community by providing support to frontline workers, ensuring the public's access to affordable essential goods and services, providing financial assistance to vulnerable groups and supporting small businesses that have been affected by the pandemic, and also through our foundations, providing more support to the vulnerable groups, the Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs) and charities.

The work has certainly not ended because our world will never be the same.

Let me give you a boring example in logistics. During this COVID-19 period, NTUC Fairprice expanded our warehouse capabilities to support additional storage requirements. During COVID-19, we had to adapt, and we successfully set up an alternative warehouse. We did this within five days. We converted a brick-and-mortar store to an online fulfilment centre within three weeks, again to meet the surge in online orders.

By 2021, FairPrice had set up what we called a Supply Chain Ops Centre (SCope). This was to enhance our supply chain capabilities and to ensure we remain operational regardless of disruptions. More importantly, this ops centre allows us to minimise out-of-stock scenarios because it functions as an early warning system.

In fact, when the Suez Canal blockage incident happened in March 2021, Fairprice was before the international agencies reported on the news. This incident had affected a few vessels that were transporting some of the supplies and products that we had ordered. The near real-time alert had bought us precious time to execute our contingency plans, thus avoiding supply chain disruptions.

Today, we are more agile. We have further diversified our sources of supply, covering over 100 countries and we are constantly looking to strengthen our network of suppliers to avoid any over-reliance on any one source. So, yes, whilst we still carry a lot of eggs from Malaysia, we also have eggs from Australia, New Zealand as well as, certainly, from our local farms. And over this COVID-19 period, we have added Spain, Ukraine and Poland as additional sources for eggs. And just last month, we added Brunei to the list of countries supplying eggs to us.

The way we feed ourselves will not be the same. The way we live and the way we work will also be different – telemedicine, work from home, online learning and the need for insurance. But there are other things which will remain the same – resilience, unity, and a single-minded commitment to our joint future. These are enduring virtues that have always been a part of our DNA as a young country formed of hungry migrants.

I said at the start that the most important lesson in the White Paper is of the human dimension. It is a lesson of the mind and one that is difficult to record in a document, a lesson that cannot be taught but must be learnt.

We must see that our brightest moments in the whole pandemic came from the times when we recognised, and when we respected our common humanity, and that our society is one which has an equality of respect and dignity for each one of us. We must learn and we must remember this lesson, because it is one, that as Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had said, will test us again. Sir, I support the Motion.

Mr Speaker, Sir, this Motion on Singapore's Response to COVID-19 and the recently released White Paper is a welcome first step to boost Singapore's capacity to weather not just the next pandemic, but other unforeseeable disruptions in future as well. It charts the broad directions that we need to head in to enhance our resilience as a small country that is susceptible to global or regional shocks.

I will focus my speech on the more general thrust of how we should enhance Singapore's resilience as a nation. I will address how we can better prepare to prevent or manage significant disruptions to our way of life in four parts – in resources, infrastructure, manpower and mindsets.

First, on resources. Early on in the pandemic, we saw how other countries implemented nationalistic and protectionist policies to restrict the export of essential medical supplies like medical-grade face masks, as demand spiked locally. Being an import-dependent economy, Singapore initially suffered difficulties in securing critical medical supplies.

Also, in early-2020, many countries, including Singapore, saw panic buying and hoarding of essential supplies amid the uncertainty and the prospect of having to be confined at home. In Singapore, we did well to keep supplies flowing and assuage Singaporeans of our sufficiency. In reviewing our stockpiling strategies, I hope the Government will make the revised comprehensive list of critical items known to the public. As Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong mentioned, I was glad to hear that there will be a fore-planning team and department that will be set up for future crises. The essential thing is whether we can determine what is the level of redundancy we need for each resource. While some of this information would concern national security, a limited disclosure to the public would reassure Singaporeans that we are disruption ready.

There will, inevitably, be an additional cost as we build buffers and diversify our supply chains. Importantly, have we calculated how much more we are willing to pay for such "insurance" as compared to buying "just enough" and from the cheapest source? Moreover, does this mean that our Government procurement guidelines need to be amended to facilitate this aim or do the existing value-for-money metrics accommodate this objective to "insure" ourselves against unknown shocks?

Finally, as we invest in boosting our local production capacity, our natural constraints mean that we will still have some reliance on foreign sources to augment our domestic solutions. Many Singaporeans may not know this, but we have Singapore-based PUB officers constantly stationed at the Johor River Waterworks in Kota Tinggi, Malaysia, to ensure the smooth supply of imported water into Singapore. So, yes, we have a group of Singaporeans who are working in Kota Tinggi on a daily basis.

While these officers commuted daily across the Causeway pre-COVID-19, many of them had to make personal sacrifices and spent up to one month per shift away from their families when the pandemic-related travel restrictions were in force. They, like many others, are the unsung heroes in our fight against COVID-19 and we are all deeply grateful, and to their families too.

Second, on infrastructure. The collaboration between our public and private sectors enabled large-scale care facilities to be mobilised and demobilised at speed during the pandemic. This helped to manage the stress on our permanent healthcare facilities as the number of cases peaked and ebbed. I look forward to hearing more concrete plans on how the Government intends to design its facilities to be multi-use and re-deployable into accommodation, medical and other critical facilities during a crisis.

However, I am also concerned about more bespoke infrastructure for which substitutes are not readily available. For example, Members may remember the publicised COVID-19 cluster outbreaks at the Jurong Fishery Port in July 2021 and Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre in September 2021. As these are key nodes for the distribution of seafood, fruits and vegetables to our supermarkets, wet markets and hawker centres, it was unsurprising that these outbreaks grew to become one of Singapore's biggest community clusters with more than 1,000 linked cases. The PPWC had to close and cease operations for three days. In Toa Payoh East, for example, at the Toa Payoh East Lorong 7 wholesale night market in my constituency, they were similarly affected and closed voluntarily for two weeks after COVID-19 cases were discovered.

Sir, I would like to commend the National Environment Agency (NEA), Singapore Food Agency (SFA) and Enterprise Singapore for responding quickly to manage the virus spread and help traders activate alternative supply arrangements. And they have done so in Toa Payoh East, too. Going forward, we may need to look at our preventive strategy to manage disruptions at such bespoke hubs and assess if there is sufficient capacity at alternate distribution ports and centres to handle contingencies that cripple a particular distribution centre.

Third, on manpower, Mr Speaker. A big plus that did not seem to be highlighted adequately in the White Paper is how we managed to effectively redeploy manpower to where it is needed. One example would be how around 3,000 Safe Distancing Ambassadors and enforcement officers were deployed and coordinated by the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE) to ensure compliance with safe management measures (SMMs) and vaccination-differentiated SMMs in public spaces.

When commercial flights were suspended during the height of the pandemic, the Public Service Division (PSD) quickly worked with the private sector to redeploy aviation workers to fill urgent manpower needs in both public healthcare institutions and public agencies. There was an added level of efficiency as the aviation staff already had the competencies to deliver basic care as Care Ambassadors.

Sir, I am glad that the White Paper has acknowledged the transferability of certain competencies across multiple jobs or roles, in suggesting that the Government will put in place a more centralised system to tag crisis-time roles and training suitable individuals ahead of time.

I have previously advocated for rationalising disparate jobs and industries in our economy and identifying overlapping or complementary skillsets or competencies. This can form the basis of our other policies, for example, offering better job matching and placements at our Community Development Councils (CDCs) and other agencies; or designing more structured training pathways under initiatives like SkillsFuture, where workers can progressively train in cross-sector skills and competencies.

Separately, has the pandemic also helped to strengthen the Singapore Core in our workforce? While it should remain Singapore's strength to remain open to the world even in trying times, the prolonged pandemic has seen expatriates and migrant workers return home to be with their families with no certainty of return. I hope MOM and relevant agencies are already looking or will be looking at the data on the trend of foreign workers and pass holders from before the pandemic up till today, to assess and mitigate our manpower vulnerabilities going forward.

Finally, on mindsets. As the White Paper noted in the lessons to be learnt from this COVID-19 episode, adaptability and flexibility will continue to be key in tackling future pandemics or crises. Mr Speaker, in Malay please.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] This is also an opportune time to reflect on the contributions and sacrifices that the Malay/Muslim community has made at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. From Malay/Muslim frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, social workers, delivery riders, safe distancing ambassadors and all those who worked day and night, including members of the Cabinet and Ministry staff who drafted policies, regulatory amendments and budgetary measures quickly to deal with the COVID-19 crisis at its peak, I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you.

In addition, our religious and Malay/Muslim agencies also stood out. Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis) and the Office of the Mufti provided clear directions in line with Islamic teachings during those tough times as we had to scale back on physical attendance to congregational prayers and other important religious practices. Provisions were specially made for vulnerable groups, reminding all of us of the need to protect the well-being of our community while performing our religious duties. The use of digital technology is a good measure implemented for prayer sessions and congregational prayer slots in mosques which was done quickly and was well-coordinated.

I am also touched and proud of the community's ability to rally together, such as under SGTeguhBersatu. The task force, with the support of our social workers and religious teachers, came up with a psycho-social resilience framework to nurture a new norm of a resilient self, family and community, and set up a Care Network and interactive e-forum to help everyone affected cope with the disruptions to their daily lives. MENDAKI also helped our students in need to procure digital devices for online learning, while Muis, the mosques and Islamic education centres and providers helped equip our asatizah with the skills to provide religious content online.

I also would like to take this opportunity to thank the Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI) for their forthcoming support to companies, small businesses and families during the pandemic. They demonstrated how a true “gotong-royong” spirit can drive resilience in the community.

(In English): Mr Speaker, in English. I am sure many of us can agree that one positive from the past three years is the acceleration in our digitalisation journey. Not only has GovTech rolled out nationwide, data-driven tech solutions like SafeEntry and TraceTogether as part of our pandemic management measures, ordinary Singaporeans have also gotten comfortable with operating in the digital space.

There are a fair number of seniors in my constituency in Toa Payoh East and I am extremely heartened when they share that they are now able to talk to their grandchildren more often over video calls or watch performances online over Zoom and I think, more importantly, also be able to make bill payments to agencies in the comfort of their own homes.

More of our heartland merchants and hawkers are also hooked up onto digital payment solutions and electronic delivery platforms which were hastened during the COVID-19 period. This is all, in part, down to the efforts of NEA and SFA to reach out to stallholders during the pandemic. These intensive outreach efforts had also helped to achieve a 99.9% vaccination rate across hawker centres, wet markets and coffee shops and to implement the rostered routine testing regime to test thousands of hawkers and workers, which allowed our hawker centres, wet markets and coffee shops, to maintain operations and serve the local communities. This rostered routine testing at the covered plaza in Toa Payoh East and Lorong 8 Toa Payoh has played a part to reassure safety to residents and hawker patrons in those markets. On behalf of the residents and hawkers at Toa Payoh East constituency, I really do commend the swift efforts by the agencies which minimised COVID-19-driven disruptions for all.

So, even as we emerge from the pandemic and transit back into more in-person activities and interactions, I hope the Government and communities alike will continue to sustain the momentum behind our digitalisation efforts post-COVID-19.

Mr Speaker, Sir, as a Deloitte Insights report points out, following COVID-19, governments should strive to transform their operations not only in healthcare but in areas like service delivery, workforce regulation and procurement. I am proud that Singapore is in the lead, taking stock of what they have done well and what can be improved, from its response to this crisis of a generation. However, we cannot stop at these conclusions. With the support of the public, private and people sectors, I have faith that we will act specifically to make us more resilient and prepared for the next crisis, whenever it hits in whatever form. Sir, I support the Motion.

Mr Speaker, as I was reading the White Paper, the experience and emotions were surreal. As I looked back, I cannot help but remember my interactions and engagements with residents as they reached out for assistance during the pandemic, which I think I should share some of it.

Much has happened over the last three years and what has made it possible for us to be where we are today are the close partnership and trust amongst all stakeholders – Government, agencies, businesses, private and people sectors and, most importantly, Singaporeans and those living in Singapore and interacting with Singaporeans. We must thank our frontline workers and everyone who contributed, many who worked hard behind the scenes, unknown and unseen, and probably will never be known by many of us, and the many sacrifices that were made in this journey.

While we debate today on what went right or wrong, let us not miss some key points made in the White Paper which I think are worth repeating. I quote, "On key events and major issues, the lessons to be drawn are quite clear. We need to learn them well and make full use of our experience to prepare Singapore for the next pandemic."

Secondly, what we experienced with COVID-19 was different from SARS and we can expect that the next pandemic will be different from COVID-19. Hence, we must be prepared for surprises and challenges. While "we must learn from the past, there will be a need to adapt and be flexible".

Finally, we should use the lessons captured to help those dealing with the next pandemic "to avoid some of the errors we made and improve on what we have done right this time, in order to protect the lives and livelihoods of Singaporeans." And I think, it is important to remember, the purpose of why we are doing this – it is about lives and livelihoods.

The White Paper is comprehensive. The Prime Minister Office (PMO) team and Mr Peter Ho who put it together have given a good account of our journey through the pandemic, covered the major areas and issues and lessons learnt. I will not be able to do justice to the details in the White Paper in such a short speech and I am not intending to.

My speech today will focus on my experience and engagements with residents during the height of the pandemic, the period termed in the White Paper as the "Rocky Transition" and the period of "Learning to live with COVID-19", the challenges they faced, my learnings and thoughts on what we could do, in terms of engagement and support, to better prepare for the next pandemic.

In all stages of the pandemic, we must acknowledge that in order to protect lives and livelihoods, it required adapting as the situation changed. This naturally made communication challenging and with many parties involved, there were many moving parts to deal with, and things did get complex and at times confusing for individuals and their families.

On balance, as outlined in the White Paper, we maintained effective, timely and accurate communication. With channels like the Multi-Ministry Task Force (MTF) press conferences, a dedicated Gov.sg WhatsApp channel, timely sharing of information, both good and bad, as well as the outlining of plans, these played a major role in maintaining public trust. The efforts to ensure the countering of misinformation and scams and corrective actions like Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) prevented the spread of falsehoods and panic amongst our people.

We must give credit that public communications was well-managed overall. But as with all things, there were challenges related to the access of information or clarity, and that affected individual situations which did have ramifications on their movement, access to services and safety. Communications was not easy given that there was constant change and need for adaptation.

To illustrate the point, let me give some examples – this is not exhaustive – of appeals for help that I received from residents. These examples will give a sense of the challenges faced with the last mile of communication.

Example one, I had a resident who needed help with test results and status as well as update of TraceTogether App status. She made numerous attempts to call the MOH hotline to seek clarity but was unsuccessful over the course of more than a week. Even when she did get her call answered the persons who handled her call were unable to advise her or they gave her conflicting information. Why she needed the information was because she was required to provide her employer with the information as it was more than nine days that she had been away from work.

Example two, this example related to the vaccination status on the TraceTogether App. For this resident, after receiving the second vaccination, his vaccination status was not updated. Even after waiting for two weeks after the second vaccination and sending the query form as directed by the MOH website and calling the hotline, he was informed that nothing could be done and that the matter was being escalated. When the resident reached out to me, it was already a month. With vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS), he was unable to gain access to most places as his TraceTogether App indicated that his "vaccination was in progress".

These examples related to vaccination and the TraceTogether app, but there were similar situations because of the changes with regards to quarantine order and isolation measures or safe management measures (SMMs) or border measures.

In the spirit of learning from our experience and what concrete actions that we can take to better prepare for future pandemics and help us deal with other national crisis, I would like to make some recommendations.

I agree with Lesson 07 of the White Paper which outlines the importance of continuing to deliver transparent and clear public communications to build trust and ensure effective response in a crisis. From the examples that I shared, there is also a need for channels of effective two-way communications and engagement for support and help when individual situations required it. The White Paper rightly outlined that we should have directed more resources to frontline crisis communication, especially at case management and the need for tight information flow between the various stakeholders. I agree and I recommend that we should also consider bringing this closer to the community and build structures and capability in "peace time" to achieve this.

What do I mean by this? While directing more resources is required, from past experience, we have seen that even with more resources directed, it is not always possible or sustainable to resource support for peak loads. As the Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had said in his speech, "realistically we can plan or invest but we cannot plan for every situation."

I am proposing that one, we identify, designate and setup in "peacetime" trusted nodes of frontline crisis communication by areas or by constituencies, closer to the community.

Two, establish standard operating procedures (SOP) of communication with residents and channels of engagement and points of contacts, for example, the number to call, email addresses and WhatApp.

Three, establish SOPs for two-way communication and appropriate engagement between the nodes and agencies including the latest information updates and escalation handling. This will enable not just communication of information to the public but also facilitate the resolution of issues faced by individuals and channels of feedback for changing needs within the community to the agencies.

Just like with business continuity plans, there is a need to conduct regular exercises to activate these nodes of frontline crisis communications and involvement of all stakeholders including the community, in "testing" the communication flows among stakeholders and for familiarisation. Just to be clear, what I mean by "community" is including residents and citizens, so that they get familiar with the nodes of communication.

While my recommendations are not novel and parts of this already exists, what I am proposing is a deliberate move to forward plan, as Deputy Prime Minister Wong has said earlier, and put in place a network and system for frontline communications and crisis communication closer to the community that is regularly exercised and tested, so that we can activate them during a pandemic or any other national crisis.

Mr Speaker, the three years of dealing with COVID-19 demanded a lot from our people, organisations and Government. It took our resilience as one people, public and private sectors, civil society and strong leadership to protect lives and livelihoods that brought us to this new normal. I am confident that as One People and with our learnings from our COVID-19 journey, we will be able to work together to better prepare ourselves for the next pandemic and future crisis. Mr Speaker, I support the Motion.

Mr Speaker, I would like to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to the committee for their tireless efforts in putting together this report. The report provides valuable insights into the challenges we faced during the pandemic, the measures taken, and the lessons learnt.

Operating in a dynamic environment with evolving knowledge and understanding of the virus is challenging. The pandemic has been an unprecedented global crisis. It has impacted all our lives, from healthcare to the economy, and tested our social cohesion, and Singapore's resilience and agility as a nation. It emphasised the need for cooperation and partnerships between the Government, businesses, and individuals. We have done remarkably well in our response to the pandemic.

In the healthcare domain, there were four key issues: (1) continued access to healthcare; (2) resources to ensure the survival of Singaporeans stricken with COVID-19; (3) testing capabilities; and (4) vaccinations. To do this, we needed a trained workforce, space, equipment and essential medical supplies such as vaccines.

And to mention that Singapore was among the first to secure and administer vaccinations to protect our citizens. I would like to applaud the planning group for vaccines and therapeutics for being able to pick out two of 35 other potential candidates during the early stages of vaccine trials that enabled us to have early access. We may not be as fortunate in the future.

Singapore was able to build up COVID-19 testing capabilities. For this to occur, it required PCR testing kits, swab kits, PCR machines, trained personnels and well-coordinated logistics capability. Without one of these, large-scale testing would not have been possible.

Scaling up COVID-19 testing was nearly insurmountable, given the backdrop of scarce resources and few trained personnel. Despite all the challenges, Singapore was able to build up a testing capacity of up to 60,000 tests a day.

In light of this, in preparation for future pandemics, how could we build up capabilities within Singapore to develop and manufacture vaccines here? Do we have sufficient capacity or ability to re-tool and manufacture these testing capabilities locally?

On access to food, water and other essentials, throughout the pandemic, Singaporeans had uninterrupted access to food, water and essential items. However, we cannot take this for granted and assume that the global supply chain would remain intact, with ports, ships, airports and air cargo operating normally.

Our continued access to essentials was possible because Singapore's robust supply chain management system could quickly adapt to the pandemic's changing circumstances. In addition, the Government worked closely with local businesses and international partners to establish safe corridors for transit.

The litmus test was when Singaporeans were able to walk into heartland markets, NTUC, Sheng Siong or Cold Storage, and all the shelves were stocked. I would like to thank those silent heroes at the frontlines of procurement, those unsung heroes on the ground who secured those essential supplies and their safe passage to Singapore.

In the future, circumstances and scenarios may restrict or disrupt our accessibility to essential resources. How can we better on-shore or near-shore resources to buffer our resilience further? Can the Singaporeans play an active role in building buffers within households? If so, what is this list of resources, items and capabilities that citizens can help to stockpile and maintain?

Every National Day, we should allocate time to have a nationwide exercise. Every citizen, community, private and public sector can participate in an emergency exercise – a time when we review and refresh procedures, trial our national emergency capabilities and examine our own household resilience through education and active participation.

On safeguarding our industries and livelihoods, one key aspect of safeguarding local industries was Singapore's agility in locally re-tooling and building COVID-19 capabilities. Companies such as Razer Technologies quickly built up manufacturing capabilities to produce masks. Hope Technik designed and retrofitted COVID-19 buses with high-flow HVAC systems to transport patients. Mirxes developed COVID-19 testing kits and Singapore Airlines redeployed its pilots and cabin crew to provide essential services such as contact tracing and patient care.

Numerous SMEs and business owners responded to the call of duty. Without hesitation, they invested their monies to secure scarce resources and manufacturing equipment and quickly onshored those capabilities for Singapore, producing masks, testing kits, PCR machines, and many more. I want to take this opportunity to thank the SME business owners for your service and personal sacrifice.

On safeguarding our heartlands and community. Jurong Spring has one of the busiest markets. I have personally observed how COVID-19 affected hawkers and stall owners. I must share that the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment (MSE) played a critical role in coordinating and implementing safe management measures (SMMs) and vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS) in public spaces. At the height of the pandemic, over 3,000 Safe Distancing Ambassadors and Enforcement Officers were deployed daily at public areas such as malls, parks, hawker centres, and coffee shops to ensure compliance with SMMs and VDS. In addition, there are over 114 hawker centres and wet markets and over 1,200 coffee shops. This is no mean feat.

Overall, in Jurong Spring, there was zero COVID-19 deaths within the market and hawker centres, and all the hawker centres and market stalls remain open till today. No one went out of business. This was because MSE officers had a close working relationship with the hawker and market stall holders. There was deep trust in their working relationship. The officers were understanding, pragmatic and agile in their execution to ensure that operations were conducted safely, but yet nuanced with commercial and economic practicalities when possible.

This strong working relationship was further validated when collectively together with the local community, NEA and SFA conducted intensive outreach efforts and achieved a 99.9% vaccination rate among stallholders rapidly.

Between July 2021 and February 2022, NEA and SFA also worked with the Health Promotion Board (HPB) to implement the Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) regime, which regularly tested around 24,000 hawkers and stakeholders at markets and hawker centres, as well as some 39,000 workers in food courts and coffee shops. One of these RRT centres were actually just behind the Block 505 market in Jurong Spring. These efforts actually helped to prevent the spread of COVID-19 within the community and safeguard the health of stallholders and patrons. Operations in local and regional testing centres were strategically located and professionally operated.

On behalf of my hawkers and stall holders, I would like to thank all MSE, NEA and SFA staff who have been very hard at work on the ground, with much personal sacrifice to ensure the continued safe operations of our hawker and market centres.

To enhance preparedness in our community areas, could we include pandemic scenarios in the future planning of our hawker and market centres?

Our heartland shops were also deeply affected by COVID-19 but the impact was quickly mitigated with the swift and professional response by the Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI). MCI played a crucial role in supporting the digitalisation of heartland shops in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was in response to the need to enable heartland shops to operate remotely and maintain their businesses during the pandemic.

I remembered how useful it was to the hawkers when MCI launched the Hawkers Go Digital programme in June 2020. It quickly enabled my hawkers and heartland businesses to digitalise their operations overnight and adopt ecommerce capabilities.

My hawkers were very supportive of the programme and were provided end-to-end support with funding and education. As a result, numerous heartland businesses were able to adopt digital solutions such as epayments, online ordering platforms, and delivery services. All these would not have been possible or accessible to them.

After digitalisation, hawkers needed a platform to sell. Once again, MCI stepped in to assist. They worked with industry partners to develop digital tools and platforms that supported heartland businesses and brought their products and services to the market. For example, MCI collaborated with the food platform Grab to launch GrabFood Hawker Picks. This service gave customers a curated list of hawker stalls for delivery and takeaway.

Our seniors were also greatly affected. Many of them never had a smartphone in their lives. So, yet again, MCI worked hard to increase digital adoption among seniors and vulnerable groups during the pandemic. It launched the Digital Ambassadors Programme, which recruited and trained volunteers to help seniors. It has benefited my residents a great deal. As a result, today, we have a better and well-connected senior population than ever before. Most of them are able to use Zoom, WhatsApp, TikTok and Facebook as well, to connect and progress and find new friends and extend their network.

There is much to be appreciative of. Many of our lives here were safeguarded by the collective actions of frontline staff, unsung heroes from the public and private sector, community volunteers and caring neighbours. It was not a perfect outcome, but there was every intent to ensure we achieve the best possible outcome and for Singapore to survive.

Lives and livelihoods are what we are accountable for, and that is what matters most. We have done well. There is still much to learn and prepare for the future. The work of building for tomorrow continues. Mr Speaker, I support the Motion.

Mr Speaker, in the past three years, we have battled for lives and livelihoods due to the pandemic. The scale of this pandemic should not be forgotten.

Over 6.6 million lives were lost globally, including 1,331 in Singapore. The global economy took a severe hit. Our country's economy contracted by 4.4% and suffered its worst recession since Independence. Several industries such as aviation, hospitality and the aerospace industry were brought to a literal standstill, threatening people's livelihoods.

In 2019, 68.3 million passengers passed through Changi Airport. At the height of the pandemic, passenger traffic fell to its lowest levels ever, barely reaching 0.5% of 2019. These numbers paint a stark picture.

The impact of COVID-19 was unprecedented in many ways. Streets, schools and offices were empty during the circuit breaker. People were separated from their loved ones during festivities such as Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Christmas. Even places of worship were empty as we all took the collective responsibility to stop the spread of this pandemic. It was indeed the crisis of our generation.

The crisis tested our values as a society. It laid bare what we would be willing to do to support one another. Now that the pandemic has passed, it is an opportune moment to reflect on how we perform as a society and what values will we like to shape the future of our society. Three critical values that emerged during the pandemic were trust, care for each other and the resilience of society.

Firstly, trust was essential during the pandemic, whether in each other or in the authorities and various agencies. Compliance with Safe Management Measures (SMMs) and guidelines was essential, and it became everyone's responsibility to practice basic hygiene for the greater good. Additionally, when the guidelines changed during the pandemic, such as group size, distancing and mask wearing, we trusted the view of experts and adapted quickly. At work, new requirements were implemented due to the pandemic. Staff had to be split into two teams to minimise contact between employees. In factories, even during breaks, workers had to be separated from one another. Additionally, masks had to be worn by those in high-risk jobs, such as those for our delivery workers.

In many other countries, even basic needs, such as the wearing of masks, became highly contentious and heavily politicised issues. Thankfully, this was not the case here. We trusted the advice of experts and implemented necessary measures without delay. By doing so, we were able to move forward without losing valuable time and energy on unnecessary debates.

Secondly, caring for each other was crucial during the pandemic, where we witnessed an unprecedented outpouring of care for one another. The pandemic has brought to light the sacrifices that workers make to support society. Among them are healthcare workers who continued to serve tirelessly even during the early days when little was understood about the virus. As the number of cases increased, healthcare workers put in longer hours to ensure our healthcare facilities were not going to get overwhelmed.

In addition to healthcare workers, our essential workers, driven by a sense of responsibility, have also made numerous sacrifices to continue serving society despite their own reservations and even those of their families. Workers in industries such as transportation, platform workers, aerospace and ports, and water and electricity industries, have played a crucial role in keeping our infrastructure running amid these challenging times.

Besides the sacrifices of our workers, care for one another also meant helping those in need of financial support due to the financial challenges brought about by COVID-19.

The Government's financial support for businesses, workers and individuals was unprecedented. The Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), for example, helped businesses affected by the economic slowdown by paying for their workers' salaries, saving an estimated 165,000 jobs and reducing the unemployment rate. As someone from the aerospace industry, I personally witnessed how the JSS assisted companies to retain workers and allowed companies to use the downtime to reskill our workers.

Individuals who lost their jobs or are self-employed also received support such as through the COVID-19 Support Grant and Self-Employed Person Income Relief, which provided up to $9,000 to support taxi drivers and platform hire workers and their families through the difficult times.

The SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package also helped redeploy manpower to high-demand areas. For example, I remember how, with the facilitation by MOM and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) staff, aerospace workers were reskilled and redeployed to the busy electronics industry.

To help deliver this support, grassroots and union leaders like Ms Jobie Lee from Pasir Ris went online to raise awareness for these support measures.

During the early stages of the COVID-19 outbreak in Pasir Ris, it was the community that stepped up to provide sustenance to those in need. Grassroots volunteers such as Mdm Uma, Mr Raymond Phua, Mr Rajeev and Mr Charlie Cheong, all volunteers from Pasir Ris East, were among the first to offer food packs and rations to families who were quarantined at home. The community's efforts evolved into the Pasir Ris East Care Store, which continues to provide monthly assistance to needy residents.

Additionally, SGUnited Buka Puasa delivered over 300,000 food rations to residents to break their Ramadan fast. Engineering Good provided laptops to children who had no access, so that these children could continue with remote learning. Together with the Government support, the unity and generosity of the community played a crucial role in providing sustenance during the pandemic.

Beyond providing physical support, the community also prioritised mental health and digital connectivity during the pandemic. Volunteers and staff from the Silver Generation Office and Active Ageing Centres visited seniors who felt isolated to check on their well-being and to allay their fears about vaccination. Digital ambassadors were deployed to assist seniors in learning how to use technology such as Zoom, digital payments and WhatsApp to stay connected with loved ones.

Proactive steps were taken to ensure that residents had the necessary mental and emotional support during the pandemic.

Thirdly, our resilience as a society was integral in our ability to overcome the pandemic.

Unsurprisingly, our journey through COVID-19 was far from smooth. At times, we had to re-evaluate SMMs just as they were loosened, such as when we combated the Delta and Omicron variants. Often, it felt as if we were forced to backpedal even as we thought we had forged ahead.

We moved between the circuit breaker, Phase 2, Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) and the Stabilisation Phase. This required resilience from our society to stay the course.

At times, we had to pivot to meet and overcome these new challenges. This was exemplified by various industries during the pandemic such as the aerospace industry, where airlines converted their aircraft to carry more cargo and airline workers moved to man vaccination centres or across different industries while upskilling and retraining themselves.

The entire education sector had to adapt to home-based learning. Even religious practices had to make significant changes, such as suspending prayers and booking for prayers at mosques.

These examples show the value of resilience and perseverance and how it had helped us to adapt to changing circumstances. Mr Speaker, in Malay, please.

(In Malay): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] Mr Speaker, we have witnessed how the transmission of COVID-19 has drastically changed Singapore's environment. From the circuit breaker to Phase Three (Heightened Alert), to Phase Two and back to the Stabilisation Phase, we had to carefully shift these stages to ensure public safety is maintained and Singapore's healthcare system is not overburdened.

Despite being faced with a challenging and uncertain situation, I was proud to see our community display resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the best memories that I recall fondly was when our community joined hands to support healthcare workers during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. From giving words of encouragement to driving them home from the hospital for free, the COVID-19 crisis has shown our ability to come together and help each other in critical times.

Our Malay/Muslim community also exhibited commendable qualities during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Many cooperated with various parties to help the needy in this challenging environment. For example, the SGBukaPuasa initiative has distributed more than 300,000 food rations to needy residents throughout the month of Ramadan.

Spiritually, we did not let the COVID-19 crisis hamper our ability to perform religious obligations. In fact, we used this opportunity to look for innovative solutions such as performing congregational prayers under SMMs or implementing online classes for madrasah education and Quran reading. We also understood that religious practices can be adapted to safeguard the well-being of the general public.

Finally, our patience and persistence have paid off and allowed us to emerge safely from this pandemic. While this achievement is certainly worth celebrating, we must also look to the future and prepare ourselves for the next pandemic. As the Malay proverb goes, "Prepare an umbrella before it rains" – we should also learn what works and what can be improved so that we are better prepared to overcome the next pandemic. I am confident that with Singaporeans’ ability to rally together, we will be able to overcome any challenges that may come our way.

(In English): Mr Speaker, at this juncture, I would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to everyone in Singapore who had contributed and sacrificed in one way or another for the common good of all. Truly, it is only with each and everyone's effort and commitment to the cause were we able to pull through this crisis which, at times, seemed almost insurmountable.

The paper highlights seven key lessons that we can learn from our experience through the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is an eighth lesson that is equally important and also mentioned by fellow Member Mr Seah Kian Peng – a lesson that is hard to pen down, that cannot be taught in textbooks but only learnt.

It is the need to anchor, strengthen and build upon the values of our society.

While it is essential to work on infrastructure, supply chain and policies to make us more resilient, these efforts will be futile if we do not stay united as a society and exhibit the values that have made us stronger during this challenging period.

It is critical to recognise that the next pandemic is not a question of "if" but "when" it will happen and Disease X may be even more dangerous than COVID-19.

Therefore, we must use the same values to guide us not only through the next pandemic but also through other challenges in our volatile and uncertain world. These values will help us to transform our economy and ensure inclusive growth, providing equal opportunities for everyone.

It is too easy to forget these values of our society. Left to chance and on its own, it may deteriorate with time. When the next pandemic comes, we may not be able to rally together as a society.

COVID-19 is often described as the crisis of our generation. However, given the volatility of the world today, it may not be the only crisis for our generation.

While we reflect on our policies and actions during COVID-19 and learn and improve for the next pandemic, beyond policies and actions, it is also through anchoring, strengthening and building upon the values of our society that we have shown during the pandemic, trust, care for one another, understanding towards each other, resilience, grit, agility and perseverance that will prepare our society for the next pandemic ahead.

Mr Speaker, I support the Motion and once again would like to express our deepest gratitude to all in Singapore for contributing to our nation's fight against COVID-19. Majulah Singapura.