SINGAPORE - Catch up on the hottest topics on The Straits Times' weekday talk show.

The Big Story, broadcast every weekday at 5.30pm on Facebook and YouTube, has reporters and senior editors discussing the top stories of the day.

The show is helmed by multimedia correspondent Hairianto Diman and assistant video editor Olivia Quay, and airs live from ST's digital studio.

About 750 people received approval to enter Singapore under a new scheme for vaccinated travellers, on the first day after applications opened.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said that as of 11.59pm on Wednesday (Sept 1), 735 travellers from Germany - comprising 301 short-term visitors and 434 long-term pass holders - received travel passes via the Vaccinated Travel Lane.

Similarly, 20 travellers from Brunei have been cleared - comprising 18 short-term visitors and two long-term pass holders.

Meanwhile, in its daily update on Wednesday, the Health Ministry reported 29 new Covid-19 cases added to the clusters linked to the eight bus interchanges. This brings the total number of infections for the clusters to 314.

Associate Professor Alex Cook, who is the vice-dean of research at the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, discusses these developments.

Tax collection fell by 7.3 per cent in the last financial year, and a total of $28.2 billion in grants was given out by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) to support jobs and businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Iras said on Thursday that total tax collection amounted to $49.6 billion, representing 73.6 per cent of the Government's operating revenue and 10.6 per cent of Singapore's gross domestic product.

Mr Desmond Teo, EY Asean Private Tax Leader, weighs in.