2020–21 Singapore circuit breaker measures

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2020/2021 Singapore circuit breaker measures
Part of the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
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Date 7 April 2020 (2020-04-07) – 1 June 2020 (2020-06-01) (Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.)
Location
Singapore
Caused by COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore
Goals Containment of the pandemic
Methods
  • Closure of all non-essential workplaces
  • Closure of all schools, preschools, education, enrichment and student care centres except for essential care
  • Closure and suspension of religious activities
  • Restrictions on movement and gatherings
  • Food establishments only allowed to offer takeaways, drive-thru and delivery services
  • Masks no longer discouraged, made compulsory on 14 April
  • Closure of some essential shops that were made non-essential from 21 April (some restrictions later lifted)
Status Lifted with a three-phased plan
Parties to the civil conflict
Lead figures
Units involved
Number
Casualties and losses
Casualties

The 2020/2021 Singapore circuit breaker measures were a stay-at-home order and cordon sanitaire implemented as a preventive measure by the Government of Singapore in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country on 7 April 2020.

The measures were brought into legal effect by the Minister for Health with the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) (Control Order) Regulations 2020, published on 7 April 2020.[1]

By May 2021, Singapore was in its third phase of lifting its circuit breaker measures. However, the nation returned to Phase 2 on 8 May 2021 for one week, before going into "Heightened Alert" from 16 May 2021 due to a rise in community cases resulting from the Tan Tock Seng Hospital cluster of COVID cases emerging from its wards, a cluster at Changi Airport, and the emergence of the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus.[2]

Chronology

Singapore recorded its first COVID-19 case on 23 January 2020. While initial cases were all tied to travellers, on 7 February 2020, Singapore raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level from Yellow to Orange in response to additional local cases of uncertain origin.[3]

Prelude (27 March)

On 24 March, the Multi-Ministry Task Force announced more stricter measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, after a huge spike in cases originating from returning Singaporeans in the community. These measures include the closure of entertainment venues, tuition and enrichment centres and places of worship. Malls, retail establishments and tourist attractions were required to reduce their crowd density in order to stay open. Gatherings of more than 10 people outside of work and school are prohibited.[4]

Initial measures (7 April)

On 3 April, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced a nationwide partial lockdown, known as a circuit breaker, to contain the spread of COVID-19 in Singapore. These measures came after an increase of unlinked cases over the preceding month, as well as the risk of a huge cluster of infections. All non-essential workplaces closed from 7 April, with essential workplaces remaining open. All schools transitioned to home-based learning from 8 April. All food establishments were only allowed to offer take-away, drive-thru and delivery of food. In addition, the wearing of masks by healthy individuals was no longer discouraged. These measures would initially lapse on 4 May.[5]

On 14 April, then-Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong announced that the wearing of masks became compulsory when not at home with immediate effect, with fines and prosecution for offenders who refuse to do so.[6]

Tightened measures (21 April)

After discovering that the unknown number of cases was greater than expected, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on 21 April an extension of the circuit breaker to 1 June. Existing measures were also tightened until 4 May initially, including shrinking the list of essential services, such as closing all close-contact service providers such as hair salons, as well as restricting entry to certain hotspots like wet markets and some essential retail franchises going by the last digit of one's ID number.[7] Popular markets utilized an odd/even date entry restriction; ID ending with odd numbers are only allowed entry on odd dates of the month and ID ending with even numbers are only allowed entry on even dates on the month.[8] The Singapore franchise of McDonald's also shut all of its restaurants islandwide, as a response to a number of its employees being infected.[9]

Relaxed measures (2 May)

Some restrictions were relaxed progressively in stages to prepare for the end of the circuit breaker on 1 June. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) shops and essential condo activities were allowed to reopen on 5 May, followed by businesses like home-based bakeries (HBBs), some food shops, barbers (only basic haircuts), manufacturing of confectionery, and laundry shops on 12 May. Schools resumed face-to-face lessons for smaller groups in graduating cohorts and those requiring urgent assistance on 19 May.[10][11] At the same time, the Ministry of Health (MOH) mandated the use of SafeEntry contact-tracing system at all businesses and services from 12 May, but does not include "transient" locations like the MRT or parks, although people are encouraged to scan to assist in contact-tracing efforts.[12] On 8 May, the MOH announced that all TCM shops are allowed to sell retail products again from 12 May, after receiving feedback from seniors that travelling to TCM medical halls was too far for them.[13]

Post-circuit breaker (reopening)

Three phases of planned reopening were announced on 19 May 2020, namely "Safe Reopening" (phase 1), "Safe Transition" (phase 2) and finally "Safe Nation" (phase 3); the third phase will last until an effective treatment or vaccine is found to stop the spread of COVID-19, which was approved in December 2020. Phase 1 started on 2 June,[14] while Phase 2 started on 19 June.[15][16] Phase 3 started on 28 December with pre-conditions like the use of TraceTogether, compliance with safe management measures (SMMs), and adequate testing capacity. In addition, it was announced on 14 December 2020 that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was approved for use in Singapore, with the first batch slated for around end of December 2020.[17] On 3 February 2021, the Moderna vaccine was approved for use in Singapore, with the first batch slated to arrive around March 2021.[18] Subsequent batches for both vaccines are planned to arrive throughout 2021.[17][18] After a resurgence of COVID-19 cases in the community, a return to some Phase 2 measures was announced on 4 May 2021 under "Phase 3 Heightened Alert", taking effect between 8 May and 30 May.[19] Measures were tightened on 14 May 2021 through "Phase 2 Heightened Alert", taking effect from 16 May to 13 June and effective from 22 July 2021-18 August 2021.[20][21] With Singapore having fewer cases, all measures were rolled back to "Phase 3 Heightened Alert" in two transitions, on 14 June and 21 June.[22]

See also

References

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