Necessity of TraceTogether SafeEntry Requirement given New Protocols for COVID-19-Positive Patients

NOTICE PAPER NO. 879
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 10 JANUARY 2022

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Lim Biow Chuan
MP for Mountbatten

Question No. 2231

To ask the Minister for Health in view of the latest protocols for COVID-19-positive patients, whether the requirement for using the TraceTogether application to gain access to malls, shops or eating outlets is still necessary.

Written Answer

The Ministry of Health will regularly review the relevance of existing rules and requirements, including TraceTogether and SafeEntry. We want to keep rules and requirements simple, and make life as normal as possible.

To protect unvaccinated persons who remain at higher risk of severe disease, verification checks into venues or activities where vaccination-differentiated safe management measures are in force, are necessary. Today, TraceTogether and Safe Entry are very efficient tools to allow us to that. So they are still needed as part of our public health response.

The data generated helps to identify and alert close contacts of COVID-19 cases through Health Risk Warnings, and identify the locations of infection clusters and settings with a higher risk of transmission. These are useful in setting safe management rules.

Hence, as of now, we plan to keep both systems.