OP-ED CARTOONS: Editor’s Choice –

A new SG Clean task force has been set up to raise hygiene standards across the nation. The initiative comes on the back of the SG Clean campaign launched in the middle of last month to raise cleanliness and safeguard public health amid the coronavirus outbreak. The latter exercise seeks to take cleanliness and public hygiene to the next level, and to change social norms so that these become Singapore’s first line of defence against current and future infection outbreaks. New benchmarks will be put in place to keep public places clean, and people will be nudged to pick up new habits and give up old ones to stop the spread of disease. Also, new rules later this year will require hawker centres, schools, childcare facilities and eldercare centres to be cleaned at prescribed minimum frequencies, with owners responsible for the cleanliness of their spaces.

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The formation of the task force is a welcome move. It comes in the wake of the far-reaching mobilisation of society to face down the coronavirus outbreak. The Government has undertaken strict screening measures at entry points to protect Singaporeans from imported cases, and it has imposed stringent quarantine and Stay-Home Notice rules to restrict the spread of the coronavirus locally. Healthcare workers have reinforced their social standing as national protectors in this grave hour of need by putting themselves on the front line of the fight against the virus. A raft of measures has been announced to mitigate the economic impact of the disease, and the Government is prepared to do more. Also, the authorities are ensuring that hygiene standards are up to scratch, for example, by keeping public toilets clean, dry and stocked with soap.

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