Since announcing the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (Dorscon) at orange level back in February, there will not be any changes until further notice.
At least we aren’t going into Doscorn red.
Orange Will Stay
Hopefully not in the White House.
Earlier in Parliament today (5 October), Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that the national Doscorn level will remain at orange until the global situation improves. Despite the drop in daily cases in Singapore, they have decided not to review the Doscorn level.
The orange level means that the disease is severe and spreads easily from person to person, but it has not spread widely in Singapore and has been contained. Singapore has been stuck at the orange level since the sudden influx of unlinked Covid-19 cases.
Historically, Singapore has never raised the Doscorn level to red before. During SARS, it also remained at orange.
At orange level, there are additional measures including temperature screenings, restricted number of visitors at hospitals and issues of quarantine orders.
Not Cast in Stone
This will not be permanent. Mr Gan also pointed out that the level does not depend on the number of cases alone.
While the cases in Singapore have been low over the past few weeks, cases in other parts of the world have been fluctuating.
One example would be our neighbouring country, Malaysia, which recently recorded 217 cases on a single day.
Although this was down from 317 on the previous day, there are still 1,961 active cases in there, according to Straits Times.
Mr Gan would like the level to remain at orange until they are confident that the global situation is more secure.
What to Expect
When Phase 1 first rolled in, the government also announced that it would be a three-phased approach to resume activities safely. Since 19 June, we have been stuck in Phase 2.
Thanks to Phase 2, we have seen the re-opening of dine-in restaurants and theatres.
However, all activities must be done in groups of five or less.
The question now is: When can you start hanging out in larger groups? Maybe.
At Parliament today, Mr Gan also said that measures can be eased if we can work together to keep our guard up. This includes allowing bigger groups of friends or families to meet.
However, he also noted the risk in allowing such a big group to eat together as masks need to be removed then.
With effect from 28 September, employees working from home could also start going back to their offices. Offices are also only allowed to have 50% of their employees in the office at any given time.
Conferences, seminars and large-scale meetings are also allowed to be held with a 50-person limit. Weddings and religious activities were also allowed to resume with a 50-person limit per slot.
Attractions such as the Zoo and Universal Studios have also been reopened during this phase, allowing a larger capacity at different time slots. Museums, libraries and small-scale performances have also resumed operation.
As much as restrictions have slowly been lifted, the government has done careful planning after learning from other countries.
Now, we just have to be patient and brace ourselves for whatever comes next.
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