Lawrence Wong, Singapore Minister for National
Development and Second Minister for Finance and also the Co-chair of the
Multi-Ministry Taskforce on COVID-19 has announced new measures to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore. The country has seen a jump in cases, from 212 on March 14 to 385 on March 20.
Wong said, "We
would like to see,when all of these measures are in place, (with) fewer
people out and about, a reduction in social gatherings or any activity
involving close contact that can be a potential vector for transmission
of the virus."
The measures include:
- All large-scale gatherings have to be fewer than 250 people in size.
- Organisers of large-scale gatherings must ensure adequate distance apart when the participants or attendees are seated.
-
All employers are asked to get employees to work from home. If that is
not possible, then employees should go to the office on staggered hours
so they do not all come at the same time and leave at the same time.
These hours are preferably not during the peak period for transport.
-
Safe distancing - people seated 1 m apart - should be enforced across
the board – in entertainment venues, attractions, restaurants, food and
beverage (F&B) outlets, hawker centres, and coffeeshops.
"We
need Singaporeans to cooperate. We will be enforcing these rules. It
will lead to some inconvenience, but we will need Singaporeans to
cooperate and take responsibility for these changes. If we are all
disciplined about this,it will give us better control over the
situation, and enable us to suppress and slow down the spread of the
virus. So we hope all Singaporeans will work with us – do our part to
protect ourselves, our families, our friends and the people around us,"
Wong said.
The news follows an announcement from
the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) of the removal of online product
listings with false claims related to COVID-19. The products included
health supplements, herbs, traditional medicines and products that can
worn on or near the body.
Among the false and
misleading claims were promises that the product could “strengthen the
immune system against the coronavirus” or “prevent and cure
coronavirus”, HSA said in a statement.
"There is
currently no evidence that such products can prevent or treat COVID-19.
HSA also detected rapid test kits which claimed to be able to diagnose
COVID-19 within 10 minutes. Testing for COVID-19 can only be done by
clinical laboratories or medical professionals in clinics and hospitals
to ensure an accurate test result and diagnosis. Product listings with
false claims related to COVID-19 made up about half the total number of
listings taken down by HSA. Such fraudulent claims are not allowed and
HSA will take actions against the sellers of these products."
Some 2,500 listings were removed in total.
