COVID-19 Update: Singapore is Likely to Reopen its Borders

(Photo Credit: The Straits Times)

In his Ministerial Statement at Parliament, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that Singapore is likely to reopen its borders in small, selective stages.

However, Mr Gan stated that even if some measures were to be lifted, a “mix of isolation and test requirements” will continue to be imposed, in order to protect the country from imported COVID-19 cases.

He also stated that various factors and indicators will be looked at when considering the re-opening of borders, which is part of Singapore’s existing Circuit Breaker measures.

“We need to make an assessment of the situation globally and individual countries, on the extent and approach on reopening our borders,” said Mr Gan.

“We would review the rate of transmissions in other countries, as well as what they have done to contain the spread.”

Of Singapore’s 19,410 confirmed COVID-19 cases, around 579 are known to be imported cases.

Although Mr Gan stressed that numbers are important, there are many other things to consider before lifting the measures. Putting in place a system for Singapore to open up safely such as increasing the rate of COVID-19 testing has to be taken into great account as well.

“We need to be assured that community transmission locally is stemmed, or very low,” Mr Gan added. “Community cases should ideally fall to zero or single-digits daily, with very low numbers of unlinked cases, and not just for one day, but sustained over a period of time.”

Watch the video below for Mr Gan’s full Ministerial Statement:

Source: CNA

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