At a press conference yesterday, the multi-ministry task force set up to battle the spread of Covid-19 fielded questions on a variety of topics. Here are some of them.
The high fatality rate that was reported previously was in China, in the Hubei province and, specifically, in Wuhan. But within the rest of China, the mortality rate is in fact much lower. And perhaps that is a more accurate figure than looking at the virus' behaviour.Because some individuals within those countries are presenting late, perhaps even in hospitals, we may have been poorly resourced to be able to treat these conditions.
Q: Is there a tipping point where Singapore decides it no longer needs to rely on border controls? And if social norms are able to change here, will that become the first line of defence?I would say that are in fact the first line of defence, rather than border controls. We have travel advisories already in place for non-essential travel to various countries. The situation may change between now and the holidays, and new information may emerge, and if so, we will put out the travel advisories as necessary.