SINGAPORE — A wicked problem on a grand scale with new information and developments unfolding daily. A fog of war posing conditions of incomplete information and uncertain outcomes.
After-Action ReviewThe paper traced how the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in Singapore from its first imported case in January 2020 until the nation entered a new normal of living with an endemic Covid-19.
Mr Wong, who co-headed the Government’s pandemic response, added that the purpose of the review was “to learn and ask ourselves, from all these experiences, how we can be better prepared when the next pandemic comes”. It added that the Government could have also encouraged Singaporeans to make their own masks while manufacturing lines were set up to ramp up production of surgical masks.The White Paper described the Covid-19 outbreak in migrant worker dormitories as “a crisis within a crisis”, and one of “the most dangerous” close calls faced during the pandemic.
While the move was done in the spirit of transparency “to bolster vigilance”, it sparked public panic and a run on essential items. Help was also handed directly to individuals such as through the Covid-19 Support Grant financial assistance and various vouchers to defray household costs, with S$593 million disbursed to around 480,000 beneficiaries.The scaling up of contact tracing efforts could have kept pace with the infection outbreaks, said the Prime Minister’s Office in a press release on the white paper on Wednesday.
The broad movement restrictions had"created significant difficulties" for some of these long-term pass holders, who endured prolonged separation from their family and disruption to their work. In late 2021, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary said that resignations among healthcare workers have gone up in the first half of that year under the strain of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Wong described vaccination as a"very important strategy" and Singapore's successful implementation of it"has enabled us to get through this pandemic".Difficulties were faced in securing critical medical supplies early in the crisis, in part due to real supply shortages, but also resulting from"nationalistic and protectionist reactions" to the pandemic and hoarding.
Diversifying sources for food and essential goods supplies by tapping"long-standing networks" and establishing new onesBy mid-March 2020, more than 100 countries had closed their schools due to the pandemic, the White Paper noted. Within a year, MOH had expanded testing capacity and capability to about 60,000 polymerase chain reaction tests per day
The MTF announced plans to ease measures in mid-August, only to tighten them again in September as number of cases rose
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