Parliament: Plastic screens placed around podiums for safer speaking amid coronavirus outbreak

SINGAPORE - Transparent plastic screens have been placed around the podiums in the House as part of measures to make Parliament sittings safer during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Members, who now wear masks and take them off only when speaking, were also seen wiping down the microphones and podiums after speaking.

In an Instagram post on Thursday (June 4), Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin said that the perspex screens were installed to facilitate safer speaking. He also thanked the Parliament team for setting them up.

The new screens, first seen at Thursday's sitting, are the latest in a series of precautionary measures rolled out in the House since March.

For the first time on March 25, members sat further apart after new safe distancing measures were introduced, with some spread out in the galleries on other levels.

They also had to take breaks in separate groups to further reduce mingling, and use separate restrooms.

Mr Tan said then that the new steps were aligned to stricter safe distancing measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Late in May, President Halimah Yacob approved four other locations for Parliament sittings up till Nov 20. They were the Arts House, The Treasury, Civil Service College, and NTUC Centre.

The announcement came after a Bill was passed earlier that month to amend the Constitution to allow the House to meet in multiple locations if needed.