Previously, it was announced that Singapore will only enter Phase 3 if three conditions are fulfilled:
- 70% takeup rate of TraceTogether App or Token
- Compliance with Safe Management Measures
- Better testing capabilities
Well, you’ll be happy to know that we’re now more than halfway there to fulfilling the first condition.
2.9 Million People Now Using TraceTogether; 1 Million More People Before Phase 3 Can Start
According to the Singapore Public Sector Review (SPOR) released by the Ministry of Finance, 2.9 million people are now using TraceTogether, either via the app or the token.
That’s half of Singapore’s population, which currently stands at 5.8 million.
This means that if we are able to get a million more TraceTogether users, we would be one step closer to Phase 3.
When Education Minister Lawrence Wong announced the conditions, he added that people do not have to wait for the TraceTogether tokens.
Instead, all they have to do is to download the TraceTogether App and activate it in order to add to the numbers.
“The faster the Tracetogether takeup rate rises, the earlier Phase 3 will come.”
People in S’pore Helping One Another
According to the SPOR, $90 million were donated through donation platforms like Giving.sg, the SG Cares app and funds like the Community Chest and the Community Foundation of Singapore’s Sayang Sayang Fund from Jan to May 2020.
Just for reference, that’s the amount that was donated for the entire year of 2019.
More than 13,000 Singaporeans actually signed up as volunteers for work like delivering care packs to the elderly, giving home-based exercise tips, etc.
More than 500 private hire car and taxi drivers also volunteered to ferry suspected Covid-19 patients to the hospital.
In fact, when healthcare workers were being discriminated against by members of the public, Grab drivers volunteered to drive healthcare workers to and from their workplaces.
While the road to the end of Covid-19 is long and arduous, MOF said in the report that the pandemic has “fostered a strong spirit of care, cohesion, and active citizenry in our society”.
Similarly, the Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen has also commented on how Singaporeans used their own resources to step up in defence of the nation during an award ceremony.
Download TraceTogether If You Haven’t
Singapore’s doing pretty well in keeping down community transmission.
But as you can probably tell by now, Covid-19’s unpredictable, and many countries have fallen into the trap of relaxing too fast too quickly.
If there’s a spike in Covid-19 transmission in the community, the TraceTogether app is one important component that’ll stop us from turning into a second Hong Kong.
If that isn’t convincing enough, just know that you’ll need the TraceTogether app or token to enter shopping malls or any other places in the future, so might as well download it early now, right?
You can read the full SPOR here.
For more information about TraceTogether, watch this video to the end (and please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos, too!):
Featured Image: Ascannio / Shutterstock.com
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