Singapore is not a country used to praise.
Before Crazy Rich Asians came out, some didn’t even know we existed, while those who did knew us as that strict country that banned chewing gum and caned a man for vandalism.
But something strange has been happening since the Covid-19 outbreak; people have been praising us.
Harvard recently said that our method for detecting new Covid-19 cases was the best in the world.
Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) came out and said they were “very impressed” with how we handled Covid-19. (I say we but I did absolutely nothing.)
Now, one American man has some good things to say about us.
American Who Only Lived in S’pore For One Month Praises S’pore Govt Responses To Covid-19
One American man has taken to Twitter to praise Singaporean’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak, even though he has only been living in the country for a month.
Living in Singapore for 1 month during the COVID outbreak I’ve been super impressed by the government leadership and response here. Things that I've noticed:
— Noah Pepper (@noahmp) February 29, 2020
Noah went on to list the things he was impressed in a long response to his original post. Here’s what impressed him:
1. Transparent and regular updates
The first thing that impressed him was the “transparent and regular updates” on four issues:
- Government policies
- Status of virus spread
- Clear, actionable recommendations for individuals and businesses
- Responses to misinformation
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2. “Aggressive” contact tracing
In case you don’t know, contact tracing is the process of identifying people who may have come into contact with an infected person. Much like Harvard, Noah was impressed with our “aggressive” contact tracing and how it identified people who had been exposed to the virus and placed them in quarantine immediately.
3. Travel restrictions
Noah also mentioned the travel restrictions we placed on certain individuals and how we enforced quarantine for all those arriving from places hit by the disease. But it’s not just that; we also imposed penalties on those who flouted the rules.
4. Temperature checks
Noah also talked about the mandatory temperature checks for those entering offices and how some workers had secondary temperature checks during the day.
Noah himself claims he gets his temperature check over 4 times a day as he goes into different buildings.
5. PHP clinics
The fifth thing that impressed Noah was the introduction of Public Health Preparedness Clinics, clinics that provide special subsidies to those with flu-like symptoms.
More than 600 GP clinics were activated in this scheme.
6. Precautionary measures for drivers
You may have noticed your Grab and taxi drivers wearing masks that their companies supplied. Noah mentioned this along with other precautionary measures that drivers took to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, such as “flushing the air in the car” between passengers and periodic wipe downs.
In addition, Noah was also impressed with the “pervasive” advice on the importance of staying home when sick and washing our hands regularly.
He also mentioned how government IT teams were “mobilized” to “build tools to help with coordination and communication”.
Noah ends his post saying “I’m sure I’ve missed a bunch of other points – but I’ve been fascinated and impressed at the speed of decision making and ability to act that Singapore shows (and not just in COVID related work).”
Now, you may not always agree with our gahmen, but you have to admit that our response to the Covid-19 outbreak has been nothing short of incredible.
