In announcing the retirement of the Covid-19 era TraceTogether app, the Government’s Smart Nation Group said that digital contact tracing systems would no longer be required to prevent or control the spread of Covid-19 “because the risk of a severe Covid-19 outbreak requiring TraceTogether and SafeEntry to be restarted in the immediate term is low”. (TraceTogether, SafeEntry discontinued; personal contact tracing data relating to Covid-19 deleted, Feb 5)

By the same token, the requirement for Singapore residents to fill in SG Arrival Cards with Electronic Health Declaration before returning home from abroad can no longer be justified.

The act creates a “foreign” feel in residents before they return home and jars with the “Welcome home” messages and banners greeting them upon landing.

Singapore may be the only country in the world that requires its own residents to fill in such a form, an honour it can do without.

Cheng Shoong Tat