The Straits Times says

No rushing ahead with reopening

New ground was broken this week when participants at the Singapore International Energy Week - the first to host up to 250 persons on site since pandemic restrictions began - underwent pre-event swab tests for Covid-19. The antigen rapid tests, although less sensitive than polymerase chain reaction ones, can yield faster results within 30 minutes. A successful pilot could pave the way for looser limits on group sizes for gatherings, which are now capped at five. Large-scale events such as wedding receptions, live performances, sports and business conferences might then resume eventually. This comes as agencies here work out ways to incorporate fast testing and widespread tracing into Singapore's Covid-19 response ahead of a Phase 3 of reopening. Antigen rapid tests are being used in foreign worker dormitories as part of their existing rostered routine testing, to quickly detect and isolate asymptomatic Covid-19 cases. Increasing the testing frequency will help pick out positive cases that might have otherwise slipped through.

As Phase 3 requires three-quarters of the population to participate in digital contact tracing, the supply and distribution of TraceTogether tokens have also been ramped up. More than 400,000 TraceTogether tokens have been collected to date, putting Singapore at the 50 per cent mark for participation rate. Those who want a token will be able to get one by end-December if they do not wish to download the app.

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