Health and Safety Measures to Prevent Further Spread of COVID-19 at the World Economic Forum

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Ms He Ting Ru

MP for Sengkang GRC

Question No. 697

To ask the Minister for Health in order to prevent the World Economic Forum’s Special Annual Meeting in Singapore from becoming a super spreader event (a) whether attendees will be subject to Stay-Home Notices and quarantine rules; (b) what other concrete safety measures will be imposed to minimise COVID-19 spread; and (c) whether all attendees will be required to use TraceTogether technology in order to be allowed into Singapore to attend the event.   

Answer

The Ministry of Health is working with various government agencies and the World Economic Forum (WEF) to put in place the necessary public health and safe management measures to ensure that the WEF Special Annual Meeting in Singapore can be conducted safely.

To actively detect any cases of COVID-19, we will implement rigorous testing arrangements for local and foreign event attendees, in lieu of them serving Stay-Home Notices.  We will also implement safe management measures such as mask-wearing, safe distancing and mandating the use of TraceTogether technology to minimise the risk of transmission and facilitate identification of close contacts for isolation.

In addition,  a physical segregation of event attendees from the local community.will reduce the risk of infections spreading from event attendees to the local community at large, and vice versa.

Over the next few months leading up to the Special Annual Meeting, the Ministry of Health will continue to assess the COVID-19 situation locally and globally, and adjust the public health measures for the event as necessary.  We will work with the Forum to clearly communicate these measures to attendees so that the event can proceed safely.