Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Editorial : Singaporeans need to be vigilant in the battle against SARS-CoV-2

Publisher : Lianhe Zaobao
Ref : https://www.zaobao.com.sg/zopinions/editorial/story20200506-1051095
Translation, editing : Gan Yung Chyan
                                 / KUCINTA SETIA



On 23 January 2020, Singapore saw the first confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, and it has been more than 100 days since. The epidemic gradually spread from imported cases to the community. Due to the tightness of the epidemic, anti-virus vaccines have not yet appeared, and the government launched a partial lockdown virus breaking measure during the circuit breaker period on 7 April 2020, requiring all non-essential industries to suspend business until 4 May 2020. Two weeks later, the government further tightened regulations to expand the scope of non-essential industries and extended the virus breaking measures until 1 June 2020.

Strict virus blocking measures have achieved initial results. Last week, there were no new imported cases in China. In addition, in the local community, the average number of new cases per day has dropped from 31 in the week before the implementation of the blocking measure to 11 cases in the previous week, and the number of unrelated cases in the community has also been reduced from 12 to 5 per day.

Therefore, the government decided to gradually relax some of the blocking measures starting from 5 May 2020. However, Lawrence Wong, Minister of National Development and Second Minister of Finance, said at the day before yesterday that the war against epidemic in China is far from over, and people should not relax. He said: "The fight against the virus is not a sprint, but a marathon, and we have not finished half of it."

Before vaccines appear, blocking measures are necessary to fight the disease. However, the blocking measures led to a semi-stop economy, affecting the survival of enterprises and the livelihood of Singaporeans. In addition, people stay at home for too long, and they all hope to live a "normal" life as soon as possible. Therefore, companies and individuals are looking forward to the removal of blocking measures as soon as possible.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong outlined a road map for lifting the ban the day before in Congress. He said that the government will determine the strength and scope of lifting the ban based on the number of cases in the community, the development of the global epidemic, and the ability to detect coronavirus and track contacts. He emphasized that the lifting of the ban will proceed step by step. Even after the lifting of the ban, Singaporeans still have to adapt to a new lifestyle and maintain social distance to prevent the epidemic from rebounding.

Based on economic considerations, many affected countries have been eager to lift the measures of locking down cities and countries when the epidemic curve has just begun to flatten but the flatness of the epidemic curve does not mean that the epidemic has disappeared, and the lethality of the second wave of the epidemic may be more powerful than the first wave. To lift the blocking measures prematurely will not only fail to revive the economy, but will cause greater damage.

Fortunately, Singapore has sufficient reserves to start a long-term struggle against the epidemic. The government regards saving lives as the top priority, and has allocated more than 60 billion yuan to help enterprises and individuals overcome difficulties. Nevertheless, the economy cannot be shut down for a long time, nor can companies and individuals rely on government assistance for a long time. Therefore, in accordance with the conditions of safety, a moderate lifting of blocking measures is necessary.

Different groups of people have their own needs and demands. They all hope that they will not be covered by the circuit breaker measures or be included in the list of lifting the ban as soon as possible. However, since the epidemic has not disappeared, the government must act cautiously during the lifting of the ban and strike a balance between needs and risks. In this process, in addition to economic factors, the government should also take social factors into account.

The epidemic continues, and the impact on low-income groups is particularly severe. This group of people did not have much savings and stopped. Many of them may be casual or part-time workers, or do small business at home. These low-income groups in the gray economy have not registered with the government and may not be included in the aid network. Between livelihood and life, they may choose the former. We cannot let the virus attack the weakest link and give up our efforts to fight against the epidemic.

The epidemic is still spreading around the world, and the vaccine has not yet appeared. Our anti-epidemic work still faces many challenges. Anti-epidemic experts said that SARS-CoV-2 is very "sly" and can always find blind spots, vulnerable groups and places that can infect many people. Even if strict protective measures are taken, a slight negligence will cause the virus to enter.

In the current epidemic situation, it is necessary for us to put the interests of the group above the interests of the individuals and fight the epidemic together. Only when everyone is safe will we be collectively safe. Only when everyone takes social responsibility can we get rid of the entanglement of the virus.

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