The only migrant workers still needing to be tested are the 9,700 or so in quarantine who had been in close contact with other sick workers.

The sector was already tracking massive growth, increasing almost 600 per cent in the space of four years – the coronavirus only accelerated that trend.

While analysts say the new role signals a maturing of the island nation’s politics, they also flag its funding limitations and the need for full access to data.

In a land where racial harmony has long been closely managed by the government, a social media generation seeks a more open debate. The older generation is more cautious.

The island nation has joined the likes of Thailand and Japan in looking inward to boost tourism as the Covid-19 pandemic keeps borders closed.

Daily new infections are declining but Singapore faces the risk of new outbreaks that have hit other economies such as Hong Kong and Australia, and the rising threat of dengue fever.

Restrictions on physical home viewings didn’t stop buyers from snapping up a US$20 million condo in central Singapore and a US$18 million landed house in Sentosa Cove. 

WP has 10 of 93 seats, the highest ever percentage of opposition lawmakers, with analysts saying this indicates desire by voters for checks and balances on PAP government.

PAP returns to power, but opposition Workers’ Party wins record 10 seats in 2020 general election.

Polls closed at 10pm after the highest ever general election vote turnout since independence. Sample counts providing an early indication of results are expected soon with analysts saying the ruling People’s Action Party will comfortably return to power.

With Singaporeans going to the polls on Friday, with campaigning permitted until midnight on Wednesday.

For the PAP, which has triumphed in every general election since independence, another win seems in the bag. But in the trade-off between share of votes and share of seats, is there such a thing as winning too much?

Here are some of the important figures running for office on July 10, from future leaders such as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s designated successor Heng Swee Keat to old hands.

On Nomination Day, Deputy PM Heng Swee Keat made an 11th hour switch to East Coast GRC as the PM’s brother Lee Hsien Yang ended weeks of speculation about his election plans, saying ‘Singapore does not need another Lee’.

The city state has been clear it does not want to be seen as taking advantage of Hong Kong’s political turmoil. Yet its generous tax rates, lower rents and safe streets are undeniably appealing.

The ruling PAP will be seeking a strong vote of confidence in its ‘4G’ leaders. Singapore’s coronavirus response and economic woes are issues that will feature in a relatively muted campaign with no mass rallies.

All eyes will be on whether the ruling party can repeat or surpass its 69.9 per cent showing from the 2015 polls held six months after the death of founding father Lee Kuan Yew.

Singapore’s Elections Department has released fresh guidelines on campaigning, amid expectations that a general election could be weeks away.

‘We must defy the loss of social cohesion, the polarisation, and the despair that is taking hold in many other countries’.

‘Women are not objects to be made fun of, ridiculed and trampled upon’, Halimah Yacob, Singapore’s first woman president, wrote on Facebook.

Foreign workers are expected to bear the brunt of the 200,000 redundancies economists forecast will be made in the city state by the end of the year.

Lee Hsien Loong’s televised address was the first of six speeches by government leaders and an informal beginning to the ruling party’s election campaign.

Experts say the looming recession will hit more experienced employees hardest, as they are expensive to employ and seen as difficult to retrain.

The Peranakan restaurant helmed by a celebrity chef recently unveiled a ‘Nyonya nasi ambeng’ set meal but critics pointed out the dish was originally from Java, Indonesia and had cultural significance for the Malay community.

The arrangement encompasses Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang as well as the city state and will reduce lengthy quarantines for businesspeople and officials.

Pupils are returning to the classroom and some businesses are reopening as Singapore takes its first steps to ease its circuit breaker.

Most Asean leaders see Beijing’s position on Hong Kong as part of its internal affairs, the analysts say.

The phased reopening of the economy could be expedited if it appears the city state has the virus under control, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said.

The city state on Tuesday unveiled its fourth set of financial measures this year for businesses and households hit by the coronavirus pandemic.

Total injections to shore up the city state’s coronavirus-battered economy will now amount to US$65.4 billion. The measures are described as a “necessary response to an unprecedented crisis”.