Any time the button is pressed, we will stand up again: DPM Wong as Covid-19 MTF stands down

SINGAPORE – The multi-ministry task force handling the Covid-19 pandemic in Singapore will stand down on Monday, with the Ministry of Health taking over to manage the coronavirus, like any other endemic disease.

This comes as the task force announced on Thursday that

all Covid-19 restrictions would be lifted

from

next

Monday

, in line with Singapore lowering its disease outbreak response condition (Dorscon) level from yellow to green more than three years after the first coronavirus case was detected here.

The Covid-19 task force – co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong – was set up in January 2020 to coordinate and helm the Government’s crisis response.

The shift to Dorscon green and disbanding of the task force comes as the local Covid-19 situation remains stable.

Singapore’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak said the daily number of patients hospitalised due to Covid-19 has stayed below 100 in January, while those who require intensive care or oxygen supplementation remain in single digits.

There were 820 deaths related to Covid-19 in 2022, compared with 5,400 deaths from pneumonia or other causes, he added. In 2023, there have been few deaths due to Covid-19 and none reported since February.

“The overwhelming majority of Covid-19 cases have mild infection and recovered at home uneventfully,” said Professor Mak.

Mr Wong said that while the task force is standing down, the Government will continue to maintain a high level of alertness and preparedness.

“So, we are operationally ready, to use the words of the SAF (Singapore Armed Forces). Any time the button is pressed, we will stand up again because our framework, our structure, continues to be in place across all the measures, and even for our crisis management processes.”

The task force will be reactivated, along with the necessary community and border measures and responses, if there is a need for it, he added.

Mr Wong noted that the current new normal is not static, as the virus will continue to evolve and new infection waves will come from time to time.

But unless it is a very dangerous and virulent variant, the Government will manage these waves with an appropriate level of measures that will allow everyone to continue to live their lives normally, he said.

If a new and dangerous variant emerges, or healthcare capacity becomes strained, Singapore may then have to revise its Dorscon, Mr Wong said.

“We hope this will not happen. But we have to be mentally prepared for such an eventuality. And if so, we seek everyone’s support to rally together as we have done over the last three years,” he said.

Minister Ong said that while Thursday’s announcement is significant, that “does not mean that our state of alert and preparedness is over”.

“Especially for the healthcare sector, we are still in line. We have to be ready. Covid-19 has taught us valuable lessons and helped us build significant capabilities, and certainly for the healthcare sector, we will use them to the fullest to do our best to improve the health of our people.”

An ongoing review of the Government’s Covid-19 response is expected to conclude soon. Mr Wong said a report will be released, and Parliament will debate it “to make sure we collectively draw the right lessons and act on them”.

“The report is not meant to congratulate ourselves. It is really meant to take an objective look at what has transpired over the last three years,” he said.

“Areas that we have done well in, we should acknowledge, areas where we should have done better, we should also highlight, and draw out lessons primarily with a view to see what we can do better when the next pandemic strikes.”

But Mr Wong cautioned against falling into the trap of “hard-coding these lessons into rigid doctrines, thinking that the next pandemic will be the same as Covid-19”.

“It may very well be different and that means we have to learn, improve, but at the same time, always have that ability to be adaptable and nimble, and improvise in new situations,” he said.

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