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While border measures are Singapore's first line of defence against the imported risk of Covid-19, the country "cannot rely solely" on such measures to stop the virus, or the new Omicron variant from entering, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said.
Multiple layers of defence needed
Speaking at a press conference held by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MMT) on Tuesday, Nov. 30, co-chair Wong said they know this from the experience they had "over the past two years of the pandemic".
He said, "Take the example of the Delta variant. Even the countries with the strictest of border regimes like China and New Zealand have experienced the Delta variants in their countries, and so it will be for this new variant."
He added that it's important "to recognise that border measures are really part of an overall system of defence".
Wong further explained that strong border measures will help to buy time, but they will not keep the virus out, and so the country must "use this time wisely to build up and strengthen other layers of defences".
These "layers" include continuing to ramp up vaccination and booster efforts, as well as to carry on with testing and contact tracing, he said, adding that contact tracing is "critical" in "go[ing] in quickly to ring fence any cluster that may be linked to this new Omicron variant".
Singapore to continue with safe management measures
In addition, safe management measures that have been put in place "remain vital", he said.
As comparison, Wong brought up the example of certain European countries, which have only now started to "reinstate some of these basic measures like wearing of masks, social distancing, or even controls in restaurants and F&B outlets".
He said that Singapore has maintained these measures throughout the pandemic, and that it should continue to do so.
Wong further said that on the matter of whether or not the country should further tighten its border controls, the government will judge the situation carefully and develop their response based on data and science, which is something they have been doing "throughout the pandemic".
Enhanced border measures
He then mentioned that as a first step, the government will be implementing enhanced testing for travellers arriving in Singapore.
For instance, all travellers arriving from Dec. 3 onwards will be required to undergo a Pre-Departure Test (PDT) within two days of their departure of Singapore and obtain a negative result.
All travellers arriving in Singapore will also have to take a Covid-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test on-arrival.
Travellers on Vaccinated Travel Lanes will also be required to do two additional tests on Days 3 and 7 of their arrival.
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Top image via Mediacorp & Lean Jinghui