The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that effective from Tuesday (March 3), those showing respiratory symptoms at the borders will be identified and requested to take a Covid-19 swab test.
After the test, people can continue on their way but are advised to minimise contact with others while awaiting results, which may take anywhere from three to six hours to be released.
"... border controls are still useful at this stage of the epidemic, because we can still identify where the sources of risk are, and we can take appropriate measures to reduce the risk from these infected sources," noted Mr Wong, stressing that by doing so, the "epidemic curve" in Singapore will be flattened.
New travel advisories
Mr Wong also remarked on additional travel advisories — for outgoing travel, "all non-essential trips to Iran, northern Italy, Japan and the whole of the Republic of Korea" should be deferred.
For incoming travellers, visitors who have recently travelled to Iran, northern Italy and the Republic of Korea will not be permitted to enter Singapore. Returning Singaporean citizens, residents and long-term pass holders will be allowed in the country but will be issued a Stay-Home Notice.
Mr Wong noted that Japan is not included in the list of restricted countries as "the number of infected cases in Japan at this stage is still lower compared to the other countries". However, there is an advisory on outgoing trips to Japan at the moment.
Mental preparedness is key
Mr Wong remarked that although Singapore has made many efforts to combat the spread of Covid-19, mental preparedness is necessary for the coming days, weeks and months.
"We have to be mentally prepared for the number of infected cases in Singapore to go up," he said, noting that Singapore has gotten used to the number of cases rising "by just a handful everyday".
Mr Wong cautioned against complacency, as the situation in Singapore could also change "very easily", as it has done in other countries.
"This has happened elsewhere; it can happen in Singapore too," he said.
