Singapore

SINGAPORE is "now on the knife's edge" in its efforts to control the Covid-19 situation, with the next few weeks being crucial, said Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19, in a ministerial statement in Parliament on Tuesday.

Noting that "community case numbers can go either way over the next few weeks", with tighter measures in place until end-May, he said: "We have a chance of getting things under control by the end of the month."

But it only takes one lapse for an infection to spread, risking the chance of a super-spreader event, he added.

Singapore needs "a full suite of protective measures and safeguards in our community" even as border measures are tightened, said Mr Wong.

While the desire for tighter border measures is understandable, and the government is indeed maintaining a tight stance, the inflow of workers has been insufficient, he noted.

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Before the pandemic, 200,000 travellers passed through Changi Airport daily.

Arrivals plummeted with the "circuit breaker", rising to only 820 arrivals a day by November last year.

Between December and March this year, daily arrivals were stable at around 1,200, in part due to more migrant workers for the construction, marine, and process (CMP) sectors, as well as foreign domestic workers.

"But the inflow of CMP workers we've allowed up till now is still unable to meet our needs," he said, as many migrant workers have returned to their home countries.

"Whatever numbers we are bringing in barely replace those who have left."

Many companies urgently need new workers to make up the shortfall and have been applying to the Manpower Ministry for relevant approvals. This application backlog has been building up significantly, even before the latest travel restrictions.

Larger or resource-rich countries can afford to shut their borders, but trade and travel are "existential issues" for Singapore, Mr Wong said.

"They are how, as a country, we earn a living and remain relevant to the world."

Singapore has worked towards reopening while strengthening precautions and safeguards, and taking a dynamic approach: throttling down numbers and imposing stricter restrictions if any deterioration is observed in other countries.

But "even with the tightest of border controls, there may still be imported cases leaking into the community" - thus the need for community measures too.

Still, compared to a year ago, Singapore's capabilities have significantly strengthened, according to Mr Wong.

The country's testing capacity is now much larger.

In the past week, about 35,000 swabs were tested per day, and there is sufficient lab capacity to test up to 73,000 per day, or even more with pooled testing.

Contact tracing has improved with more widespread TraceTogether and SafeEntry use, and there is regular testing of persons in higher-risk settings, as well as surveillance testing for symptomatic individuals.

Vaccination is also "a major game changer", with most of the older population now covered, as well as healthcare and frontline workers at air and sea ports, hotels where stay-home notices are served, and dormitories.

Replying to a question from Ang Mo Kio GRC Member of Parliament Ng Ling Ling, on reopening plans after the current tightened measures, Mr Wong said: "Even if we can get today's outbreak under control and we start resuming more activities, there is no place for complacency."

But vaccination is making good progress, and in the coming months, vaccination efforts will scale up. When half the population is vaccinated, models and studies suggest that even if a cluster emerges, it will be more contained, he added.

"So if we stay alert, stay vigilant, uphold all the prevailing safe management measures, continue to press forward with our vaccination programme, then I think there is a good chance we can remain on track with our reopening plans," he noted.