He is a graduate student in public management at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore.
SINGAPORE
Singapore has entered a new bankruptcy in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, and the government has announced that the country will enter three of its reopening on December 28.
Capacity limits in public places will be relaxed by up to 65%. Gatherings of up to eight people will be allowed, up from the current maximum of five.
The circuit breaker was completed on June 1, and since then, Singapore has embarked on a three-phase process to safely resume operations.
Singapore has the lowest coronavirus fatality count globally (A Fouda et all., 2020). As of Dec. 21, the Southeast Asian nation only reported 29 deaths among more than 58,000 people who have been infected with COVID-19.
What is the secret of Singapore’s success in reducing the spread of the novel coronavirus?
First, there is a geographical factor.
Like other island nations such as Taiwan, New Zealand, and Iceland, Singapore also has an advantageous geography that confers a degree of isolation (A Fouda et al, 2020).
But this is not the only thing, as China, a huge mainland country, has also managed to involve the epidemic. On the other hand, Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, has failed to prevent the SARS-Cov2 virus from spreading to other islands. That’s why we want to take a look at other methods that Singapore has adopted.
Border controls
As soon as news of the disease emerged in Wuhan, the city in the midst of the outbreak in China, in December last year, Singapore began preparing by implementing border controls.
On Jan. 2, 2020, the Ministry of Health (MOH) issued a travel advisory and required all passengers arriving from Wuhan to undergo temperature screening. Since Jan. 23, Singaporeans were advised to defer all travel to Hubei province and non-essential travel to mainland China.
When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of public health emergency in late January, Singapore pleaded with its citizens not to visit any country with COVID-19 cases.
Singapore also closed its land border with Malaysia by implementing strict screening. Travelers from Malaysia and Indonesia are required to serve a 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) at dedicated SHN facilities. Individuals who breach their Stay-Home Notice can be fined up to US$10,000, or jailed for up to six months, or both.
In addition, travelers who are not citizens of Singapore or permanent citizens will be required to provide a valid negative COVID-19 test result as a condition of entry to the country. Suspected cases are transported directly to hospitals, and symptomatic travellers and determined travellers are picked up. as a precautionary measure.
New cases of COVID-19 in Singapore were generally asymptomatic and were detected through monitoring and surveillance. They will have to stay home for two weeks even if the swab result is negative. In this way, the number of imported cases can be minimized and health improved. The formula won’t be overwhelmed.
Health Centers
The government’s swift response, just 21 days after the outbreak was announced, was a very important step in Singapore’s successful fight against the pandemic. In January, the Ministry of Health and the National Center for Infectious Diseases distributed standards on the treatment of patients. suspected of being inflamed with COVID-19 to hospitals, general practitioners, and laboratories (W. C. Lee, CY Ong, 2020).
That same month, Singapore began preparing a large number of emergency beds for COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms. Overall capacity particularly increased in a matter of months. By the end of June, more than 10,000 beds were available.
The country also has swab isolation facilities for patients awaiting test results. There are more than 4,000 beds in those facilities. (A Fouda et al, 2020).
Additionally, the government introduced the SG Healthcare Corps on April 7. The program aims to help fitness staff in the fight against COVID-19. Currently, up to 3,000 new fitness workers have joined the workforce.
Singapore’s willingness is also reflected in its efforts to help neighbouring countries. In March, Tempo, an Indonesian weekly, reported that the Temasek Foundation, a Singapore-based nonprofit, was looking to donate COVID-19 screening kits to Indonesia, but Indonesian Health Minister Terawan Agus Putranto ultimately rejected the offer.
Contact tracing
Monitoring techniques were first used for other people running in gyms. They are required to report their body temperature twice a day. If their temperature is above 37. 5 degrees Celsius (99. 5 degrees Fahrenheit), they are not allowed to work and will have to seek medical attention (WC Lee, CY Ong, 2020).
The MOH, which is in charge of contact tracing, is working in collaboration with the Singapore Police Force to identify close contacts of those who have been quarantined. During the process, they use TraceTogether, a community-driven contact tracing app to help stop the spread of COVID-19. With this help, the authorities succeeded in dealing with several massive clusters and preventing the spread of the coronavirus. (WC Lee et al, 2020).
TraceTogether was introduced on March 20. Take advantage of Bluetooth signals with a wide diversity between phones to find other interesting app users nearby. If someone with the app is diagnosed with COVID-19, they can simply upload their knowledge to the Ministry of Health, which can then decrypt the data and start contacting other TraceTogether users who have been in close contact with the case shown. GovTech, the government company that developed the app, has also distributed TraceTogether tokens, especially for vulnerable seniors who don’t own a smartphone. .
Non-governmental establishments such as giant corporations and universities are also coming up with similar applications. Students at the National University of Singapore (NUS) use the uNivUs app as a tracking tool and suggestions. According to NUS, the government says it is integrating the app with TraceTogether.
UNivUS is used to report body temperature twice a day and also as a precautionary tool not to interact in activities outside the legal area. This app also offers a giveaway for students and staff who submit their reports regularly. If they don’t file a report within a certain deadline, there will be relief in points, which could lead to some consequences from the university.
Community Compliance
The way they made sure other people followed fitness protocols was key to Singapore’s good luck in controlling the spread of the disease in the early stages of the epidemic phase. Before the WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, the Ministry of Health urged the public to wash their hands. wear a mask, maintain physical distancing, and seek medical attention if they are not feeling well (W. C. Lee et al. , 2020).
On April 7, the government initiated an eight-week ’circuit breaker’ measure to reduce the cases. The authorities decided to exit the circuit breaker on June 1 as the daily number of new community cases had dropped significantly and announced phase one or safe re-opening starting from June 2.
Under phase one, economic activities that did not pose a high risk of transmission were resumed. However, social, economic, and entertainment activities that carried a higher risk remained closed. People were only allowed to leave home for essential activities and had to wear a mask when doing so.
The city-state moved into phase two or safe transition on June 19, and maximum business and social activities were allowed to resume. In this phase, establishments were allowed to reopen with safe distancing measures, and eating and drinking was also allowed on site, there should be no more than five diners per table.
As part of a country’s phase 3, masks are still mandatory. Scientists and doctors in Singapore have conducted an experiment showing that well-worn masks are effective at preventing the spread of respiratory droplets when other people talk, sneeze or cough. One study also found that without a mask, common handwashing will be useless (VC-C Cheng et al, 2020).
*Written via Maria Elisa Hospita of Anadolu Agency’s Indonesian Language Service in Jakarta
*Opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Anadolu Agency.