AVERAGE INTERVAL BETWEEN EXPOSURE TO COVID-19 CASE AND ISSUANCE OF QUARANTINE ORDER

NOTICE PAPER NO. 571 

NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER

FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 2 AUGUST 2021

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament

Mr Chua Kheng Wee Louis

MP for Sengkang GRC

Question No. 1453

To ask the Minister for Health for Quarantine Orders (QO) that have been issued to persons identified as close contacts of COVID-19 cases (a) what are the average and longest time intervals from the day of their exposure to the infected individual, to the day the QO is served; and (b) how has the average speed of isolating close contacts of COVID-19 cases changed since the start of the year.

Answer

1       As of Jul 2021, the mean time to issue the QO from notification of case was 2 days.  The longest time interval was 14 days.  This happened for a small number of individuals, where it was particularly difficult to trace the contacts of the infected.  The mean time in Jan 2021 was shorter – 1.5 days, as we had fewer daily cases then. 

2       While on the subject we would like to record our appreciation for the men and women who work 24/7 on the contact tracing and quarantine ops, as they are a vital enabler for our COVID19 strategy, and we urge members of the public to cooperate with their requests for information, so that we can all be better protected.