Necessity of TraceTogther SafeEntry Requirement Given New Protocols for COVID-19-positive Patients

105 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked 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.

Mr Ong Ye Kung: MOH 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 do 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.