The government will begin a nation-wide distribution of TraceTogether tokens on Sep. 14.

In addition, the government is trialing the deployment of SafeEntry at certain places which require the TraceTogether app or token to check in.

These updates were announced by Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan in a virtual press conference by the the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) on Wednesday (Sep. 9).

Nationwide distribution of TraceTogether tokens

Starting from Sep. 14, TraceTogether tokens will be distributed to Singapore residents. The government aims to finish distribution by November.

The tokens were first distributed to vulnerable seniors in late-June.

This round of distribution will begin in the Jalan Besar and Tanjong Pagar regions, where there is a higher concentration of elderly individuals who may have more challenges using the TraceTogether app, and who are more vulnerable to Covid-19, said Balakrishnan.

Collection points will then be extended throughout Singapore progressively.

Residents can go to the TokenGoWhere website for more details on the collection sites and timing.

People who wish to collect the Token earlier can do so by visiting any of the active collection sites listed on the TokenGoWhere website.

The token is available for free for all residents in Singapore, and every resident in Singapore is encouraged to either download the TraceTogether app onto their phone, or to collect a TraceTogether Token.

Balakrishnan stated that TraceTogether is still not mandatory, but emphasised that a higher adoption rate makes the programme more effective:

"It's been downloaded about 2.4 million times, but we actually still want to push participation in this programme because this is one of those things where the more people we have on board, the more effective the level of protection afforded to all of us."

TraceTogether-only SafeEntry pilot locations

In order to facilitate contact tracing efforts, said Balakrishnan, the government will be piloting the deployment of SafeEntry that requires the use of either the TraceTogether app or token to check in at selected venues.

These venues could include those in which there may be larger groups gathering — especially where there is close interaction among attendees — or where masks may not be worn at all times due to the nature of the activities.

Some examples of these events listed by Balakrishnan include conferences and other business-related events, where many people may interact with one another.

Supplementing SafeEntry with proximity data from TraceTogether will enhance safety for participants, said Balakrishnan:

"It's not enough to just know who has been in this building, say, in the last hour. You actually want to know — of that group of people who happen to be in the building, who actually has been in close proximity to each other?"

This will ensure better confidence in mitigating the risk of formation of large clusters, and could allow for a safer increase in capacity limits at these events and premises with any potential future easing of measures.

This initiative was trialled at the first Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) event held at the end of August, said MOH in a press release.

More pilots of this TraceTogether-only SafeEntry will be undertaken first at selected venues, and then expanded over time, once the national distribution of the TraceTogether tokens is well under way.

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Top photos via GovTech.