Businesses gear up for new goal of testing as a 'way of life'

But latest call for wider testing regime raises potential concerns over cost and implementation

Annabeth Leow

Published Sat, Sep 4, 2021 · 05:50 AM

Singapore economy

Singapore

BUSINESS owners and operators broadly backed the call for more Covid-19 rapid testing at workplaces, but also flagged potential concerns over cost and implementation.

Their remarks to The Business Times (BT) came as members of the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 on Friday said they are looking into the wider use of antigen rapid tests (ARTs) in Singapore's new normal.

While routine testing - with either ARTs or laboratory-based tests - is already mandated for workers in higher-risk industries, the Ministry of Health has now urged everyone, including fully vaccinated individuals, to self-test regularly with ART kits.

The latest measures are geared at "making testing a new norm and making testing more pervasive", said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, one of the three taskforce co-chairs. Noting Singapore's high vaccination rate, he added that "we should now aspire to be a nation of testing, where testing becomes a way of life", while …