Coronavirus: Singapore to open business travel bubble; half of its migrant workers were infected
- The segregated travel lane will be for business and official travellers from all countries, as it emerged 98,289 more migrant workers have had Covid-19
- Elsewhere, South Korea pleaded with residents to abide by social distancing rules as it reported 880 new Covid-19 cases
Singapore’s small and open economy is largely dependent upon the tourist and service sectors for growth. To that end, it has been trying to reopen its borders by establishing green lanes and special travel arrangements with countries where the virus is also under control, like New Zealand and Australia.
Authorities are also keen to position Singapore as a prime spot for meetings, events, conferences and exhibitions and the new dedicated “bubble” facility near Changi Airport will be a big part of that. Earlier this month it was revealed that the World Economic Forum has held preliminary talks with officials in Singapore about relocating its high-profile Davos annual meeting to the city state.
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Applications for the segregated travel lane will open next month. People from all countries can apply but must adhere to the travel lane’s strict health and testing protocols.
For the duration of their up to 14-day stay, visitors will be housed in a “bubble” within a dedicated facility, undergo testing upon arrival and on days three, five, seven and 11, and must observe all prevailing safe management measures. They will be able to conduct meetings with local visitors and with other segregated travel lane groups at the facility, however if they are meeting with locals, travellers will need to remain behind floor-to-ceiling dividers.
To that end, Singapore’s state investment firm Temasek Holdings on Tuesday outlined the short-stay facility that will support such safe business exchanges. Called Connect @ Changi, the initiative also involves Ascott Ltd. and will be located at the Singapore EXPO, about a five-minute drive from the airport.
It will have more than 670 guestrooms and almost 170 meeting rooms that each can accommodate from four to 22 attendees. When fully constructed in mid-2021, the facility will include more than 1,300 guest rooms and about 340 meeting rooms.
“Guests can meet their local counterparts or other guests from the region safely in specially designed meeting rooms outfitted with airtight glass panels, reducing the risk of transmission,” Temasek said.
“Entrances, exits and ventilation systems for both guests and Singapore-based visitors are separated” and there will be “a rigorous Covid-19 testing regime for guest travellers before and throughout their stay, as well as prior to departing the facility for their home countries.”
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Meals will be delivered to pre-installed shelves outside guest rooms, and guests can also opt for additional food and drink options via vending machines.
“As a living laboratory, Connect @ Changi will feature an array of novel Covid management strategies, such as waste water testing for early detection, latest rapid point-of-care tests to complement established lab-based polymerase chain reaction tests, and automated contact tracing within the facility to enable rapid and precise identification of individuals,” Temasek said.
“If successful, these strategies can be deployed at existing facilities elsewhere, such as hotels, to strengthen and boost Singapore’s pandemic response.”
Half of Singapore migrant workers had Covid-19
Nearly half of Singapore’s migrant workers living in dormitories have had Covid-19, according to the government, indicating the virus spread much more widely among these workers than the official case tally shows.
Singapore has reported more than 58,000 Covid-19 cases since the pandemic started, with the vast majority occurring in the cramped dormitories that house mainly South Asian low-wage workers.
But the government said on Tuesday that while a total of 54,505 workers had tested positive for the virus using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests as of Sunday, an additional 98,289 had tested positive using serology tests. PCR tests diagnose current or new infections and serology tests indicate past infection.
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The prevalence rate of Covid-19 in the dormitories is currently 47 per cent, including the serology test results, the manpower ministry said in a statement. Singapore includes only positive results from confirmatory PCR tests in its case count as per the World Health Organization’s criterion.
Outside the dormitories, the virus’s prevalence rate in Singapore was about 0.25 per cent based on a serology sampling study of 1,600 people, according to a health ministry official.
“This is not surprising as many migrant workers did not have any symptoms, and thus would not have sought treatment and received a PCR test in the process,” the ministry said.
South Korea reports 880 new cases
Daily infection rates are hovering at record levels with another 880 new cases reported as of midnight Monday, up from 718 a day earlier, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.
Schools in the Seoul metropolitan area closed for a month from Tuesday as the government moves closer to imposing the toughest Level 3 restrictions, which would essentially mean a lockdown of Asia’s fourth-largest economy. Companies could allow only essential workers in offices and gatherings of more than 10 people would be banned under such a lockdown.
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“While most citizens bear the inconvenience to comply with the rules, some are adding fuel to the ferocious spread of the virus with their carelessness and irresponsibility,” Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said at a government meeting. “Considering the weight and impact of Level 3 distancing, we first need to level-headedly look back at whether all of us are properly implementing the current level.”
The government is reluctant to impose Level 3 restrictions because of the “irrevocable pain” it would cause, Chung added.
Health authorities have blamed persistent violations of distancing rules for worsening some of the recent outbreaks, including churches breaching a ban on in-person services and businesses continuing nightly operations, despite rules banning in-person service after 9pm.
Japan to expand compensation after travel subsidy halt
Japan’s tourism ministry said on Tuesday it will expand compensation for travel businesses to further help them weather the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, following the government’s abrupt decision to suspend a domestic travel subsidy programme nationwide amid a surge in coronavirus cases.
The move reflects the travel industry’s concerns that the measure to halt the “Go To Travel” campaign for promoting domestic tourism from December 28 to January 11 will impact businesses, already reeling from the pandemic and hoping to use this time of the year to recover sales.
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Customers who have already made bookings for rooms and travel packages during the subjected period can call them off for free before December 24, the ministry said. The government will now pay 50 per cent of cancelled travel charges of up to 20,000 yen (US$190) per person per night, up from 35 per cent, taking into account how some businesses have already increased the number of staff to deal with the anticipated numbers during the holiday season.
Travel operators and hotels and other accommodation have been compensated by the government for 35 per cent of travel expenses when customers cancel their bookings in compliance with the government’s previous halts in areas with a high number of infections.
“I will make every effort to curb further infections over the year-end and new year holiday,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was quoted as saying at a meeting of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday.
India cancels winter parliament
The Indian government has said there will be no winter session of parliament this year because of the pandemic, even as the number of new Covid-19 cases in the country declines.
On Tuesday less than 22,000 new daily cases were reported for the first time since July 7, according to the Health Ministry.
The South Asian country has the world’s second-highest total of Covid-19 infections after the United States with a caseload of around 9.9 million, and 143,709 deaths.
The government’s decision comes during widespread farmers’ protests against a set of laws hurriedly passed by parliament during a two-week session in September. The demonstrations have now reached the doorstep of the Indian capital.
The monsoon legislative session was held with Covid-19 safety protocols in place, at a time when the country was reporting its highest infection numbers of around 75,000 to 85,000 daily. India‘s winter session of parliament usually begins in mid-December.
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New Zealand ready for summer outbreak
New Zealand’s government said it has plans in place to deal with a Covid-19 outbreak if one occurs over the summer holiday.
“The virus is continuing to rage offshore and despite our best efforts, there’s always the possibility of further community cases here,” Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said on Tuesday.
“The summer holiday period poses some unique challenges in responding to an outbreak. Large numbers of us will be travelling for holidays or seasonal work, there are more social gatherings and large events such as festivals and, like other Kiwis, there will be health system workers taking well-deserved leave.”
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New Zealand has eliminated community transmission of the virus, but it continues to catch infections at the border and has experienced some minor community outbreaks. While these have all been successfully contained, there is always a risk that the virus will re-emerge.
The government has prepared for various scenarios so that it can respond quickly if that occurs during the holiday period, Hipkins said. The health system is on standby, people and resources are on call and supply chains are stocked. A new Resurgence Support Payment would be made available to affected businesses in the event restrictions needed to be reimposed.
“If we find it, we’ll stamp it out, and we’ve made sure the government’s Covid-19 team, and the national support network, are ready,” Hipkins said.
Cambodian students seniors get automatic exam passes
Cambodian students in their final year of secondary school are to get an automatic pass on their end-of-year exams because of the pandemic.
Prime Minister Hun Sen announced the decision during an almost four-hour live televised address to the nation on Tuesday.
“All high-school students of this 2019-20 academic year are all allowed to pass the exam [without taking it],” he said, according to state media outlet Agence Kampuchea Presse.
The decision to cancel the national exam – which had already been postponed until January – comes as Cambodia works to suppress a community outbreak of the coronavirus. The cluster, which emerged last month, now tallies 41 people.
Hun Sen said the outbreak was under control but not eliminated.
He also said the country had ordered 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines from the UN-backed COVAX facility, a scheme to subsidise vaccines for 92 lower income countries.
The programme – run by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance – provides support for poor countries to acquire vaccines for 20 per cent of their populations.
COVAX plans to provide access to treatments approved by the World Health Organization. The global health body, however, has yet to endorse any vaccine candidates.
Reporting by Bloomberg, Reuters, DPA
