Singapore defended its decision not to close its schools earlier as the city-state goes into a partial lockdown from today to stem the spread of COVID-19.
It was the “correct” move to leave them open, as young people do not seem to be as affected by the virus as adults, while there is no evidence they are vectors of transmission, Singaporean Minister for Education Ong Ye Kung (王乙康) said in an interview with Bloomberg TV.
Shutting the schools now is part of a slew of so-called “circuit breaker” measures to shrink the transmission rate of the virus, he said.
Photo: AFP
“It was correct to keep schools open, but as of now, I think if we want to do a circuit breaker properly, we should close schools” as well, Ong said.
From this week, Singapore is to shutter its schools as it moves to full home-based learning.
It was one of a handful of regions that had resisted doing so, citing early research that children are not as affected as adults, even when more than 160 countries had already shut their schools.
The decision to suspend schools and also close most workplaces came as confirmed cases of local transmissions and unlinked infections in the city-state have risen in the past few weeks.
As of Monday, Singapore reported a total of 1,375 cases since the outbreak began. On Sunday, the city-state announced 120 new cases, by far its highest single-day tally.
While Ong said that about 65 students have been infected with the virus so far, none of them caught the disease while attending school, but from traveling or from the adult family members in their households.
Schools and some businesses may reopen by May 4 if the circuit breaker measures are successful, he said.
“If we do it right, if everyone cooperates, we should be able to crash the transmission rate,” Ong said. “I really hope we do this successfully, and by the fourth of May, we can reopen some business outlets, we can reopen schools, and life gets back to a certain normalcy again.”
Trade-reliant Singapore is reeling from the impact of the pandemic, with the government predicting a 1 to 4 percent contraction in the economy this year.
That was even before new restrictions on movement begin today.
Ong said the virus has all but forced productivity to come to a halt.
“Activity stops, so the impact on GDP will be tremendous” this month, he said.
On Monday, Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat (王瑞傑) announced the country’s third stimulus package in two months.
Costing S$5.1 billion (US$3.6 billion), it brings the city-state’s total virus relief to almost S$60 billion, or 12 percent of GDP, and includes cash payouts to individuals as well as additional steps to save jobs.
The fiscal measures are meant to help companies survive, ensure they have cash flow and help people to pull through this period, Ong said.
With general elections that must be held by April next year, Ong said there is a “good chance” that Singaporeans might have to go to the polls amid the outbreak.
The government yesterday introduced a bill in parliament, allowing for the implementation of temporary arrangements to ensure the safety of voters, candidates and election officials if elections happen under the current conditions.
“Life still goes on. We still go about our daily lives and democracy still has to go on,” Ong said. “If we can get the virus in control, I think we can still have an election campaign plus voting in a safe way.”
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