As a country exposed to disease outbreaks in recent times, Singapore was able to draw on its previous experiences and contain the spread of the virus. However, the administration’s failure in identifying a highly vulnerable group proved to be a major setback.

Singapore, the financial and tourist hub of South East Asia, was exposed to COVID-19 early on in the outbreak due to heavy traffic between Singapore and Wuhan in China. Customary travel between the two countries for the Chinese New Year in January further hastened the arrival of the virus in Singapore.

As a country that has been exposed to outbreaks like Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in recent times, the administration was able to draw on its previous experiences and step up and issue directives to contain the spread of the virus. The healthcare systems were in place to help isolate and treat COVID-19 patients.

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Preemptive steps

Singapore was among the first countries to close its borders and move the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) alert level to orange. The city-state was lauded for its preemptive steps and efforts to contact trace and isolate infected people so as to prevent the further spread of the infection in the community.

The remarkable way in which the emerging outbreak was handled is worth a mention. There was a conscious decision by the administration to ensure that the people of Singapore received authentic information about the number of people infected and the emergence of any new clusters.

Financial assistance packages were mobilised to help the country tide over the ensuing economic crisis, a special task force was created to oversee the handling of the outbreak. Free quarantine facilities, medical treatment, and testing were provided to all those who needed them. Social distancing measures were enforced and a large number of people were recruited as social distancing ambassadors, who politely ensured that safety measures were implemented at the ground level.

Drastic backtrack

At a time when countries across the world were reeling under a large number of infections and uncontrolled spread of the disease, Singapore’s situation was well under control and used as an example for the proper containment of the virus. However, by end of March, the situation in Singapore backtracked drastically due to the failure of the administration in identifying a highly vulnerable group – the foreign workers who make up a large part of the blue-collar workforce in the country.

These workers usually live in congested dormitories, where the infection spread like wildfire and the number of infected cases jumped from under a thousand to a few hundred being added every day. To contain this rapid rise in the number of positive cases, the country entered into a two-month circuit breaker from April 7, 2020.

Currently, Singapore is in phase two of its three-phased approach to reopening the country and getting the economy back on its feet. Overall, I would say that Singapore has handled the COVID-19 pandemic well. The only error was the inability to identify the foreign workers living in congested dormitories as a vulnerable group in time. However, the situation seems to be under control now. We are getting ready to move towards the new normal.

(The author is Visiting Fellow at Singapore Eye Research Institute (SERI) and currently a permanent faculty at the University of Delhi, India. She is also a First Check member at Health Analytics Asia)