Singapore will not require attendees at the World Economic Forum (WEF) special annual meeting in August 2021 to serve a Stay-Home Notice (SHN).

This exemption was made known by the Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary in Parliament on Tuesday, Feb. 16.

He said both local and foreign attendees will be made to undergo rigorous testing for Covid-19, as well as use TraceTogether technology in lieu of undergoing SHN.

Janil's reply was in response to Sengkang Member of Parliament He Ting Ru's parliamentary query.

She had asked if WEF attendees will be subjected to serving a SHN period, and the measures that will be implemented to prevent the gathering from turning into a super spreader event.

Janil said:

"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 to facilitate the identification of close contacts for isolation."

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

Super spreader event?

In follow-up questions, Sengkang MP Jamus Lim asked if contingency plans are in place to deal with a super spreader event.

Lim asked:

"If in the event that in spite of our best efforts, the event turns out to be a super spreader event, I'm wondering if there is a contingency plan and given this contingency plan, how the public and providers be prepped to deal with the events as they unfold?"

In response, Janil said "we are already hosting and organising events" and the current protocol dealing with Covid-19 cases will be relied upon to deal with any spread of the virus.

Janil said:

"If there was indeed a case of Covid-19 at the WEF special annual meeting, the prevailing measures that we have for a Covid-19 case at any of the events that we are organising will be in place and all the various measures as well as regulations around contact tracing isolation and subsequent follow-up will be followed."

The summit in Singapore has been postponed from May to August in light of global travel restrictions and the international challenges in combating the virus.

Top photo via PMO