Singapore is now at DORSCON Orange.
At a press conference on 7 February 2020, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced that Singapore has raised the DORSCON status to Orange from Yellow previously due to the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) situation.
The DORSCON, or Disease Outbreak Response System Condition, is a colour-coded framework that Singapore deploys to deal with pandemics.
The framework has four statuses – Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. Each status details the impact the situation has on the community and the measures that need to be taken in daily life, from minimal disruption to daily life (Green) to major disruption (Red).
According to the Ministry of Health (MOH) there is a need to raise the DORSCON status to Orange as there are now a few local cases without any links to previous cases or travel history to China.
On 7 February 2020, MOH confirmed three more cases of the 2019-nCoV infection in Singapore. All three have no links to previous cases or travel history to China. Contact tracing for these cases is underway, said MOH.
“Globally we have also seen an escalation of the situation. We have been preparing for this scenario and we are ready to manage the situation,” said Mr Gan.
He added that the Government is closely monitoring the situation and will ramp up measures accordingly.
“Life cannot come to a standstill … Let us unite and keep each other safe,” added Mr Gan.
Source: Gov.sg
As additional precautionary measures, MOH has advised event organisers to cancel or defer all non-essential large-scale events.
For those who choose to proceed, they should take necessary precautions that include:
All employers should also ensure employees conduct regular temperature taking and check whether they have symptoms such as cough and runny nose.
Temperature checks should also be done twice daily, and anyone with a fever or is unwell should leave the office immediately to see a doctor.
All workplaces should also step up their business continuity plans, and prepare for a widespread community transmission. These plans may include allowing employees to telecommute or dividing the workforce into segregated teams.
MOH also said that it will implement temperature screening and closer controls of entry points into hospitals. Pneumonia patients will also be cared for separately from the general population of patients to reduce the risk of transmission.
Schools will also suspend all inter-school and external activities till the end of the March school holidays. These include national school games and excursions.
All schools and teachers will also continue to implement enhanced measures announced on 4 February 2020.
Preschools, and social and eldercare services will limit the number of visitors to their premises, added MOH.
MOH said: “The measures we are taking will only be effective in containing the spread of the virus if individuals play their part … Even with community transmission, the most effective method to prevent transmission remains through good personal hygiene and regular hand washing with soap and water, and the use of hand sanitisers when soap and water are unavailable. We should avoid touching our faces unnecessarily, and especially if our hands are not clean.”
