Singapore hospitals would suffer if leaders wore masks like Hong Kong’s Carrie Lam: minister

In a leaked recording, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said Singapore’s hospital system ‘would have broken down’ if politicians wore surgical masks like in Hong Kong

He said it would cause panic and appeared to be referring to the shortage of masks jeopardising the work of medical staff battling the coronavirus

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Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, Hong Kong's chief executive, speaks while wearing a protective face mask during a news conference on January 31. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:41pm, 18 Feb 2020Updated: 2:54pm, 25 Feb 2020

An audio recording of Singapore’s Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing commenting on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s decision to wear a surgical mask to a press conference on the coronavirus outbreak is making the rounds online.

In the 25-minute recording believed to be of a closed-door dialogue with members of the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Chan said that if politicians in Singapore were to do the same as Lam, the city state’s hospital system “would have broken down”.

The minister’s leaked comments appeared to be referring to the worldwide rush on surgical masks that has seen prices of the product skyrocket and countries run out of supplies.

The World Health Organisation has warned that the mask shortage could endanger health workers fighting the coronavirus outbreak that has killed almost 1,900 of the more than 73,000 people it has infected so far, the vast majority of them in mainland China.

Singapore Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, centre, looks on as army personnel prepare face masks for distribution on January 31. Photo: Reuters

Singapore authorities have stressed that only those who are unwell need to wear a surgical mask but in Hong Kong, experts have urged all residents to don one when going out.

Lam earlier this month apologised for causing confusion – she wore a mask to address the media one day, but subsequently said officials should only wear masks if they were sick or going to crowded or high-risk areas.