RESILIENCE IN THE FACE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
“These expats decided to run when they didn’t like what was going on in Hong Kong, and then when it ends up in their countries they run back again,” Gary Stokes said, owner of Hemingway’s bar, in an interview with AFP reported by news.yahoo.com.
On 19 March 20, Australia’s Nine News reporter Seb Costello posted on Twitter a heart-breaking image of the elderly woman inside the Port Melbourne supermarket looking devastated; highlighting the horrific mental impact of panic buying was having on vulnerable people such as the elderly and severely disabled as COVID-19 continues to spread.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a grave humanitarian crisis that has gravely affected the global economy. It poses difficult and unprecedented challenges for all nations. They are finding that the fast-moving situation is impervious to usual familiar remedial actions. By the time a response is mounted, the situation has changed, and the scale, speed, and impact of issues posed by the COVID-19 had unexpectedly intensified.
A Stark Reminder
In this COVID-19 pandemic[1], is a litmus test of Singaporean notion of citizenship, and of Singapore societal fabrics. COVID-19’s impact is not only in the present social and healthcare challenges but its long-term economic aftermath. This means the community and the Government must tighten our belts and implement economic stimulus in a sustainable and sensible for the long-term recovery.
Whole-of-Nation Resilience
Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan said, “Whole-of-nation preparation is key — no matter whether the outbreak is a global pandemic or just part of the background viral load in the population”. In the case of Singapore, there is a need to have the whole nation acting as one single social fabric, starting with close communication, both at the political and communal levels. Psychologically, Singaporeans had been urged to prepare for a long haul as the COVID-19 is a clear and present danger.
On 11 March 20 Bloomberg Television interview, Communications and Information Minister, S Iswaran said that the COVID-19 is both a “healthcare and communication” challenge and a “real test of the resilience of a society”. He said that the Government had sought to communicate information about the COVID-19 spread in a “timely, accurate and transparent manner”. Therefore, it is essential to act against misinformation and falsehoods using Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act[2] (POFMA), as these could spread fear and panic.
In harnessing technological front, Singapore had established the Ministry of Health (MOH)’s official COVID-19 Government portal on and created a Gov.sg in WhatsApp group chat in order to give the Singapore population daily updates on the current situation and announcements to combat fake news, malicious rumours spreading. It is the collective vigilance, quick & coordinated action and the ability not just to announce things, but to deliver sustainable and sensible measures that are the backbone of Singapore’s survival against the COVID-19 fight. This social capital of compliance of the Government’s policies and trust of the stringent standards are needed when the “chips are down” in this extreme situation is crucial.
Food Security Resilience
Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing acknowledged that Singapore’s national stockpile and diversified supply chains[3] with the tightening border restrictions around the globe are posing a “daily challenge”. Singapore’s stockpile is generally planned on the basis of a “local short-term contingency”, the authorities have since reviewed the numbers “to take into account the potential disruption to supply chains worldwide and also for a longer period” with increased delays in anticipation of possible disruptions. He cited diverse supply chain to reduce the vulnerability of interdependence in any country.
“Every item across the entire table of essentials” is being looked at, and that goes beyond food. Among the things kept in stock are medicines and personal protective equipment.
Minister Chan noted that although some countries have shut their borders to human traffic, they want to remain open to the movement of goods. He added that Singapore has strategic partners working together to ensure the flow of goods is open.
Medical Security Resilience — “New” food security?
On 23 March 20, videos of Malaysian medical staff making protective suits from dustbin liners, cling wrap and plastic bags have been shared on social media. According to doctors and nurses that Malay Mail spoke to, they have no choice but to resort to Do-It-Yourself (DIY) gear because supplies at their hospitals have run out, but patients keep coming in. Doctors, nurses and other medical staff at Malaysian hospitals are treating COVID-19 patients in DIY protection gear made from everyday items like dustbin liners because there is a shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
PPE includes surgical caps, face shields, gloves, gowns, boot covers and N95 masks. All these equipment is hard to come by in Malaysia. Datuk Dr Musa Mohd Nordin and Datuk Dr Zulkifli Ismail, both paediatricians at private hospitals, revealed that larger hospitals like Sungai Buloh Hospital might have enough supply of PPE. Still, many other hospitals, including private ones do not have enough PPE. They urged the National Security Council to mitigate the PPE shortage immediately.
Hence, the need for medical preparedness in Singapore. These include stockpile of essential medical supplies, review of medical polices/SOP as well as conduct annual Table-Top Exercise (TTX) and Full Troop Exercise/drills on pandemic response such as conduct germ games, not war games, so to identify the gaps and vulnerabilities in the inter-Government/ministry response.
In addition, Singapore must continue to invest in medical surveillance and build a good medical response system. Leveraging on existing InfoCom networks to use mobile phones to get information from the public and get information out to them; use satellite maps and location mapping via mobile phones to locate where the people are and where they are moving to map the interactions for contact tracing of the spread on the COVID-19. The need for early warning and analysis tools and put into an overall WHO global health system to be interconnected for information sharing.
With the benefits of all the science and technology, invest in R&D i.e. treatment approaches, diagnostics kits, through Research entities like A*STAR, DSO-National Laboratories as well as universities/academia. Advances in biology that should dramatically change the turnaround time to study the pathogen and be able to make drugs, antibodies or vaccines that fit for COVID-19.
A pandemic such as COVID-19 would require having hundreds of thousands of medical workers, deployment of the medical reserves with lots of people trained or with a medical background who are ready to be employed at the healthcare locations, with the necessary expertise to combat this threat. The scalability includes reserves that can scale the medical response team, medical supply and medical capability exponentially.
Another consideration is to pair those medical people with the military, taking advantage of the military’s ability to deploy fast, undertake logistics support such as packing mask and medical supplies and security mission during enforcement duties or lock-down.
Manpower Resilience
As Singapore moves to balance its foreign workforce policy, one thing is clear: It cannot afford to remain closed to the rest of the world, including human talent. A Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) spokesman reiterated that Singapore “remains open to global talent”. “These must complement our local workforce, whom we will continue to develop,” the spokesman said.
“There has to be a core of local talent, because the goal of attracting companies to invest in Singapore is to create jobs for Singaporeans. We want Singaporeans to have good career pathways and opportunities to thrive.”
However, the COVID-19 exposed Singapore dependence on Foreign Talents (FT) and Foreign Workers (FW). Firstly, it is important to differentiate between two different types of foreign labour (1) Foreign Talents and (2) Foreign Workers. Generally, they are classified as:
(1) Foreign Talents refers to Permanent Residents (PR), E-Pass holders, and S-Pass holder,
(2) Foreign workers refer to those who are on FW permit: the construction workers, manufacturing, marine shipyard, process or services sector.
So, step by step, sector by sector, Singapore needs to move from high value-added to value creation. From value-creation to value-multiplication, Singapore needs to poise and prepare the industry of the future, to leverage on the use of technology, manpower up-skill and innovation to break the bottlenecks of small-size limited manpower resources to forge a new mindset of “Lean Transformation, Lean Innovation”. For Singapore, the displaced workers need to re-skill fast enough for vacant jobs left/created by Foreign Talent and Foreign Worker who are not back from their parent country.
For individuals, people who have lost their jobs self-employed and gig economy participants should be prioritised. In these testing times, the need to leverage on Self-Employed Persons (SEPs) programmes and SGUnited[4], as outlined by the Supplementary Budget 2020 announcement on 26 March 20. First, to channel as many Singaporeans into respective industry sectors of need and to ensure that a robust Singaporean core in all the major industry sectors. Secondly, through the career, employment support programmes and Skills Framework[5], to assist Singaporeans in upgrading and re-skilling.
It is important to build a strong Singaporean core in all major sectors of the economy, as Singapore continues to transform the industry of the future and look at gaps in the current shortfall in the respective industry. To survive the COVID-19, Singapore needs to bridge three human resources gaps (1) the number gap, (2) the capability gap, and (3) the timing gap. This is not because Singaporeans are not good, but because Singapore does not have enough in numbers, in readiness and in the diversity of capabilities to meet the needs of the global investors.
Such as technology and e-commerce — as well as areas where jobs are traditionally shunned by Singaporeans, for example healthcare. Singaporeans need to be re-skilled, if not, Singapore could lose out on the vast opportunities available in the digital economy as the global economic conditions look set to improve in the future.
Budget Resilience
“Our prudence and discipline in saving and growing our reserves gives us the withdrawal to respond decisively when our nation faces extraordinary circumstances,” Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat
COVID-19 has a tremendous impact on Singapore, affecting a broad spectrum of economic industry ranging from tourism, hospitality, retail, food, transport and supply chains sectors. According to Euston Quah’s report published on 17 March 20 on The Straits Times, tourism is the most affected sector with estimated losses for January to March period amounting to at least SGD3.4 billion. Besides, retail is expected to lose at least SGD634 million due to the loss of China tourists.
As announced on 26 March 20 by Deputy Prime Minister Heng, Singapore will roll out SGD48.4 billion package to support business, workers and families. This includes a slew of new measures and enhancements to existing schemes to stabilise its economy amid the near-term uncertainties caused by COVID-19. The Government’s Supplementary Budget is expected to help workers to remain employed and aid companies with cash flow as well as to address the mitigation and associated indirect costs to the various industry sectors.
In an interview with The Australian newspaper (20 March 20), Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong said, “Singapore doing its best but the tide yet to turn in virus crisis.”
Singapore had done quite well thus far in the containment and the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak despite the initial fear and panic, and some selfish buying by some part of our population. The coronavirus outbreak is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. It is having a growing impact on the global economy. This article is intended to provide a perspective on the evolving situation and Singapore’s effort on the War on COVID-19.
These are extraordinary times, and the Government’s continual aggressive preparedness and second stimulus package must address the issues faced by companies and individuals in Singapore. Done right, Singapore will come out stronger; done wrong, this may lead to a downward spiral that could take a long time to bring Singapore back to our past glory. As the COVID-19 outbreak is still accelerating in many parts of the world, Singapore must remain vigilant.
Be Safe, Stay Vigilant, Ever Ready.
Thank you.
- Dedicated with heartfelt thanks to ALL healthcare personnel and ambulance teams, those in contact tracing, as well as those manning the border control at the airport and immigration checkpoints.
[1] On 11 March 20, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
[2] Singapore’s Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) seeks to prevent the electronic communication of falsehoods (i.e. false statements of fact or misleading information), as well as to safeguard against the use of online platforms for the communication of such falsehoods. POFMA also puts in place various measures to counteract the effects of such communication and to prevent the misuse of online accounts and bots (i.e. computer programmes that run automated tasks). Statements communicated to one or more end-users in Singapore, through the internet and on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as MMS and SMS, will fall under the POFMA’s purview.
[3] As of 2017, Singapore today imports food from 170 countries, up from 160 in 2007, according to data from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA). Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/big-read-far-peoples-minds-food-security-looming-issue
[4] A new programme to help fresh graduates entering the job market and Job matching opportunity initiative that will support up to 8,000 traineeships and create 10,000 jobs across both large and small enterprises, and Government sectors.
[5] Skills Framework is also developed with the objectives to build deep skills for a lean workforce, enhance business competitiveness and support employment and employability.
