TraceTogether Tokens for Seniors

4 Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked the Prime Minister (a) whether the TraceTogether tokens have been distributed to all seniors; and (b) how does the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office ensure that citizens without smart phones and who have not been able to collect the TraceTogether token are able to access cinemas.

The Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information and Health (Dr Janil Puthucheary) (for the Prime Minister): Mr Speaker, as of 1 November, we have issued 570,000 TraceTogether or TT tokens. We started distribution in areas with a higher proportion of elderly residents, such as Tanjong Pagar and Jalan Besar. We have partnered with the Silver Generation Office to distribute TT tokens to seniors at their homes. We have also worked with the Agency for Integrated Care and MSF to distribute TT tokens to residents of nursing homes and community care facilities.

By now, residents of Jalan Besar, Tanjong Pagar, Bishan-Toa Payoh, Sengkang, Ang Mo Kio, Marsiling, Fuchun and Woodgrove would also have been able to collect a TT token at their Community Centres or CCs. Over the next few weeks, we will be gradually opening up collection points at all the remaining CCs across Singapore. Residents with a smart phone can use the TraceTogether app and do not need a TraceTogether token, but they are still able to collect a TT token should they wish to do so. We are preparing for the implementation of TraceTogether-only-SafeEntry at more venues, including at food and beverage outlets, malls and workplaces, with either the TraceTogether token or the TraceTogether app.

We will implement this – TraceTogether-only SafeEntry – at such venues when everyone who cannot download the TraceTogether app, has had a chance to collect their TraceTogether token. Meanwhile, other modes of SafeEntry check-ins will still be valid, in cinemas and other venues, as we allow time for TraceTogether token collection and for more residents to download the TraceTogether app, and for businesses to adjust.

Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong): I thank the Senior Minister of State for his reply and I would like to raise two supplementary questions to the Minister. If Speaker would allow me, I just want to share a bit of the context, so that the questions can be better understood.

Mr Speaker: Keep it brief. Thank you.

Dr Tan Wu Meng: On 25 October, collection of TraceTogether tokens took place at the Clementi Mall. It was advertised on the TokenGoWhere website and I am told it was the first such collection to physically take place in Clementi town. My residents tell me the collection at the mall started at 11.00 am; 12 minutes later, my residents were told the tokens were no longer in stock; they had been fully distributed.

So, my question to the Senior Minister of State is as follows. Can the Minister tell us how many TraceTogether tokens were allocated for distribution at the Clementi Mall that day and, more broadly, for the heartland mall distribution sites, compared to potential demand in Clementi Town? Secondly, what lessons can we draw from the early distribution experiences, so that the Ministries can improve forecasting of demand including surge demand and pent-up demand?

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Speaker, I thank Dr Tan Wu Meng for his questions. We had designated the Community Centres as the main collection point for residents to collect their tokens. But on an opportunistic basis, early in this process, we had planned to set up mobile booths at selected shopping malls around Singapore for a variety of reasons: one, to make it more convenient; and the other is to also raise awareness and participation. Our assumptions at that time were that the people, who these tokens were designed for – people who perhaps did not have a smart phone or who were reluctant to use a smart phone – were not so aware of the programme and, perhaps, needed some degree of persuasion to join the programme. Hence, we had this plan to set up these pop-up booths in malls such as Clementi Mall.

We distributed 762 tokens at Clementi Mall on 25 October. The original plan was for the booth and all the booths to open for about four hours – 11 am to 3 pm. But indeed, the demand was very high. And so, we started distributing tokens early, at 10.30 am that morning, and extended the distribution all the way to 3.30 pm to allow the clearance of the queue of people who had come to collect their tokens.

Dr Tan asked about the lessons learnt. Firstly, we had not projected such high demand. We had anticipated that there would be a need to persuade more people to come and get on board the TraceTogether programme. Actually, we are very heartened by the response. It shows that residents understand the value of this digitally augmented contact tracing in keeping us all safe, they are convinced and understand all the various protections we have put in place and the intent behind this programme. The concern at that time was whether or not there will be enough demand. So, we wanted to be prudent in terms of the production and we launched the process early even as production was ramping up.

And so, the lesson learnt was at that time, we did not expect the surge in demand that had occurred. Now that we understand that that is so, we have ramped up production. We have monitored the situation, we will adjust our supply accordingly and we will increase the supply to keep up with demand as needed.

We had also planned for residents to pick up tokens from the CCs near them and we had not anticipated the extent to which people from all around Singapore would go to a various venues in order to collect the TraceTogether token. Hence, we have altered our distribution plan so that CCs are distributing tokens only to residents of that area.

But I would like to repeat the earlier point that we will only implement TraceTogether only SafeEntry process at venues when everyone who cannot download the app has had a chance to collect a TraceTogether token. I also want to reiterate that if you have the TraceTogether app on your phone, you do not need a token, although you are free to collect one.

We have discontinued distribution at mobile booths at the malls given my earlier comments, to avoid the queues and to avoid encouraging Singapore to travel all over to get these TraceTogether tokens. Dr Tan would perhaps like to know that residents of Clementi will be able to pick up their TraceTogether tokens at Clementi CC from 16 November onwards.

Mr Speaker: Mr Lim Biow Chuan.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan (Mountbatten): Sir, if I may ask the Senior Minister of State, whether he can confirm that it is no longer compulsory for the TraceTogether token to be used at cinemas because it was reported in the press that it is compulsory with effect from 16 November 2020, whereas my constituency, my residents would only be able to get their TraceTogether tokens on 14 December, which is almost one month later. It is not just for Mountbatten but Marine Parade as well – Speaker's constituency, we will only be able to get it on 14 December and quite a number of our residents are quite senior.

The other question that I have for the Senior Minister of State is, what if the TraceTogether tokens are damaged or run out of battery or the battery is discharged? What is the process of replacement? Because, if everyone has already sort of collected and it is then made compulsory in venues like shopping malls, schools, cinemas, restaurants and if my token is damaged or the battery runs out, is it difficult to get a replacement? Because if it is, that means I cannot go anywhere until I get the replacement. Perhaps Senior Minister of State can clarify that.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Lim Biow Chuan for the questions. We will make sure that the roll-out plan with distribution to the various CCs has happened before the TraceTogether-only SafeEntry programme is made compulsory. But once we have given everybody a chance to collect the token, once we have given everybody a chance to download the app, then for these higher risk activities, these higher risk venues, we need a way to make sure that we can open up and have these activities and yet protect the progress that we have made in the COVID-19 pandemic fight.

And in order to have these higher risk activities, entry into those activities will require that the participant uses both SafeEntry and TraceTogether, the two limbs of our digital augmented contact tracing process. The way in which we do that, is we bring both processes together, using either the app or the token. Until the distribution is completed, other means of doing SafeEntry, such as using your NRIC will be available at these venues.

We will have a clear plan for replacement of damaged tokens or changing out the batteries for those batteries that are exhausted. We are going to have to calibrate that over time. At the moment, as I said earlier on, we had an unexpected surge in demand, so we are focusing our efforts on that. In the next few months, we will have to think of a replacement plan for one million tokens or two million tokens or whatever the number is in between.

So, I think after we get close to the end of our distribution process and we have a sense of what it is we have to manage over time, on a rolling basis, then we will come out and make it very clear how residents can exchange their tokens, replace their tokens, where and what the process will be. In the mean time, residents with damaged tokens or tokens with depleted batteries can go to CCs where tokens are being distributed to exchange it for another.

As we do so, we are beneficiaries of the partnership that we have with the People's Association, the CCs, but also the Agency of Integrated Care and the Silver Generation Office that has helped us then directly distribute tokens – I think more than 10,000 tokens have been directly distributed to seniors who have not been able to come down to the Community Centres. We will leverage on those types of processes and those types of partnerships to make sure this capability then continues to be available for Singaporeans in the future.

Mr Lim Biow Chuan: Cinema.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Yes. So, we will wait until after token distribution is completed before making it compulsory. We will make it available, but we will also have other modalities of SafeEntry check-in until distribution is completed.

Mr Speaker: Ms Nadia Samdin.

Ms Nadia Ahmad Samdin (Ang Mo Kio): Thank you very much, Speaker. The hon Member, Mr Lim Biow Chuan asked about what would happen in the event that the tokens have their batteries dead, for example. I would like to ask, what about if the tokens are stolen? Is there a clear reporting process because ultimately this is tied to the individuals; I see number and I just like to understand what is the process for residents in the event that their tokens are stolen.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: I thank Ms Nadia for the question. Simply, there is a hotline and a helpline for the TraceTogether programme as a whole, there is an email address, there is a phone number and residents can contact that to let us know.

If the TraceTogether token is stolen, nobody will have access to your NRIC. The NRIC is not stored on the token itself. The token has a unique identifier and any link to the NRIC is held securely in the service of the databases at the point of registration.

And so, the person who has taken it from you will have no access to the personal data that is inside. So, the key issue then, is to notify us and we can re-issue and re-enrol the resident into the TraceTogether programme.

Mr Speaker: Mr Gerald Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I have two supplementary questions. Can MOE consider distributing the TraceTogether tokens to students in their schools before the end of the school term, so that parents do not need to queue at CCs to collect them? This is a much more efficient way of distributing the tokens to students because the token is effectively mandatory for students as they are not allowed to use their phones during the school hours. And therefore, they cannot use the TraceTogether app. However, most parents of school-going children have smartphones so they can use that the TraceTogether app and they do not need to collect the tokens.

Secondly, many people seem to be rushing to collect the tokens, even though the app performs the same function. Given that 82% of people in Singapore use smartphones, the queues at the CCS can be greatly eased, if more public education can be conducted on this. The Government also needs to address the concerns that the app drains the phone batteries because this seems to be impacting the take-up rate. So, these two measures taken together can make the token collection faster and safer for those who actually need it and it can also help us to reach the 70% of TraceTogether penetration that is needed to enter into Phase Three.

Dr Janil Puthucheary: Mr Speaker, I thank Mr Giam for his questions. On the issue of the distribution of tokens in the schools, we will work with MOE and see what is feasible or necessary. I would point out that in the collection at the CCs, parents or family members are already collecting for their children – so that process is happening.

There are schools from my time at MOE that do allow smartphones to be carried by the children in the schools as long as they use them responsibly. So, I think there is no one-size-fits-all. We may have to look at the best possible options. I think our focus at the moment is making sure that we have an equitable distribution plan across Singapore, to address the concerns such as articulated by Mr Lim, that we have to do so in order to then allow the implementation of these TraceTogether-only SafeEntry areas to deal with high risk activities as part of that progress.

I agree with him that further public education is needed and so we have to make sure that we reduce misinformation or disinformation about what the TraceTogether app is and does and what the programme is for. Indeed, there have been issues with battery drainage, partly because we are unable to standardise the smartphone or the operating system of the user, so we will have to engineer this process for a wide variety of phones that are out there. So, the team is continually iterating and improving the app and as a result, we have seen a significant improvement in performance since the app was first launched some time ago. For those residents who have had some difficulty, please keep your app updated to the latest version and hopefully you will see an improvement in battery performance.

But public education is key and we encourage Mr Giam and Members of this House to join us in explaining to Singaporeans the benefits of joining the TraceTogether programme.