Letters | Singapore focused on coronavirus from the start and went all out to protect migrant workers: elections had no part to play in response

The Singapore government has been open and transparent from the start about the scale of the challenge and the measures taken

Its response to the outbreak in worker dormitories has been swift and thorough. This includes aggressive testing to protect health and livelihood

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A man walks by in a new medical facility set up by the Singapore government to test migrant workers for Covid-19, on May 10. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:50am, 12 May 2020Updated: 6:50am, 12 May 2020

Mr Sudhir Thomas Vadaketh asks “Is electioneering to blame for Singapore’s teetering pandemic response?” (May 5). But it is quite clear that Mr Vadaketh, a Singapore national, is pushing a particular point of view meant to influence Singapore’s domestic politics, rather than writing for an international audience.

The government has been focused on Covid-19 from the beginning. It has been open about the situation we faced and the measures we had to take. As global knowledge of the virus grew, Singapore adjusted its approach, guided by the evidence and expert counsel.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has spoken directly to Singaporeans on many occasions, warning about the dangers, and emphasising that the public health as well as economic crises would get far worse before they got better. He has said the same to international audiences.

Our migrant workers are largely housed in dormitories. Communal interactions are a part of their daily lives. Recognising the risks this posed, we asked dormitory operators in January to limit communal interactions, step up cleaning, require temperature checks, distribute hand sanitisers, and to close recreation centres and gyms in the dormitories, among other measures. When cases grew sharply despite these measures, the government mobilised a massive effort to secure both the health of our migrant workers and their livelihoods.

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The large number of reported cases among these workers also reflects our aggressive testing. Few countries have tested their migrant populations extensively; far fewer have undertaken to test all their migrant workers, as Singapore has. Would we have embarked upon such transparency and testing if “electioneering” had been uppermost in our minds?

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Letters | Singapore focused on coronavirus from the start and went all out to protect migrant workers: elections had no part to play in response

Letters | Singapore focused on coronavirus from the start and went all out to protect migrant workers: elections had no part to play in response