The authorities have signalled that they will not hesitate to act strongly against those who break rules meant to contain the spread of the coronavirus here. Action has been taken against three China nationals who flouted coronavirus containment measures. A Singapore permanent resident (PR), who breached his stay-home notice (SHN) requirements while he was here, was stripped of his PR status and barred from re-entering the Republic. The other two people, a China couple, have been accused of giving false information to Ministry of Health officials and obstructing contact tracing. They have been charged under the Infectious Diseases Act.

Some might think that these responses border on the draconian. However, what determines whether something is draconian surely must be severity of circumstance. There is no doubt that the coronavirus is an extremely serious threat to public health in Singapore. The health authorities have warned that the number of coronavirus cases can rise any time. While Singapore has managed to slow the spread of the disease, the virus continues to spread rapidly around the world. At the heart of the national effort is the approach of looking for new cases actively and quarantining close contacts. This has been effective in ring-fencing clusters of infection. SHN rules are a part of that effort, which has prevented the nightmare of community spread. In spite of this, it is premature to say that the worst is over.