Numerous travel restrictions have been put in place by Singapore to bar travellers from entering, with the list being expanded from China and South Korea to include several European countries.

And on Monday (Mar. 16), Malaysia announced a lockdown from Mar. 18 to Mar. 31, preventing any travellers from exiting or entering the country.

This was done in a bid to curb the spread of Covid-19, and was the key focus of Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong's speech during a Tuesday (Mar. 17) press conference held by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce.

Lockdown will pose inconvenience for us all

Following the abrupt announcement of the lockdown, Singapore's government and firms with Malaysian employees who commute across the Causeway daily have scrambled to provide accommodation for the workers in Singapore trapped on the wrong side of the border.

During the press conference, Minister for Manpower Josephine Teo added that financial support would be provided for these firms.

In response to this, Wong admitted that the lockdown would "pose an inconvenience to all of us", but stated that this was something Singapore and its people would have to take "in our stride".

"Please don't travel"

More importantly, Wong notes, the lockdown will help control the transmission of Covid-19, not just within Malaysia, but also across its border.

The number of imported cases in Singapore have been on the rise — 11 out of 17 confirmed cases announced on Mar. 16 were imported.

Wong said this was something the government was "very concerned about".

Additionally, these imported cases do not just include foreign travellers.

"The word imported cases would suggest that they are travellers coming in, visitors, tourists, but in fact they are not. Majority of imported cases that we've seen in recent days are Singaporeans, PRs, long term pass holders, residents of Singapore who have been overseas and have come back. And they have been infected during the time that they are overseas."

And in light of the rising number of these imported cases, Wong highly discouraged Singaporeans from travelling during this period.

"There is really no need to travel, so please don’t travel, it puts everyone at risk, you put yourself at risk, and you will put your family members, and the people around you, at risk. So we really ask Singaporean residents to really think through before we make any travel plans."

This, he says, will help limit the number of imported Covid-19 cases in Singapore.

He added that thus far, Singapore has been fortunate enough to have been able to detect the majority of our imported cases.

Most cases, he notes, are responsible and report to general clinics and hospitals themselves.

Employees to use annual leave to cover SHN or LOA

Wong echoed statements made in a MOH travel advisory issued on Mar. 16, which advised members of the public to defer all non-essential travel to reduce the risk of contracting Covid-19 infection while overseas.

A second advisory from the Ministry of Manpower said that employees who insist on travel for non-work related reasons after the issuance of the MOH no-travel advisory might be asked to use their own annual leave to cover the duration of any Stay Home Notice or a company-imposed Leave of Absence.

If the employee does not have sufficient annual leave entitlements, the employer may allow the employee to consume advance leave or put the employee on no-pay leave.

Top photo from Shawn Ang on Unsplash and Rachel Ng