S'pore handled Covid-19 well, but not without shortcomings

Singapore, Sep 2 Singapore has done well in handling the coronavirus pandemic, although its response was not without shortcomings, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Wednesday.

Joining the debate on the President's Address in Parliament, he noted that the country's fatality rate is one of the lowest in the world, with new infections in the community down to just a handful a day and fewer than 100 patients remaining in hospitals, reports The Straits Times.

With hindsight, the Government would have done some things differently, he added.

Lee said that the government known earlier that Covid-19 patients were asymptomatic, it would have quarantined all Singaporeans who were brought back home from abroad in March, instead of only those returning from certain countries.

The government would have also recommended the wearing of face masks sooner, the Prime Minister said.

Lee further said the authorities would have acted more quickly and aggressively to control the rapid spread of the disease in migrant worker dorms.

"All this is wisdom after the fact. We must learn from these errors, and do better the next time," he said.

Of the 56,000 Covid-19 cases Singapore has reported, at least 50,000 of them are low paid migrant workers from South Asia who live in cramped dormitories, a BBC report said.

Singapore later sealed the dorms and carried out extensive testing, while the country was placed in a strict three-month lockdown.

As of Wednesday, the overall caseload in Singapore stood at 56,901, 27 deaths.

( With inputs from IANS )