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Home Team officers working 'round the clock' in COVID-19 fight: Shanmugam

People wearing protective face masks along Orchard Road on 14 February. (PHOTO: Getty Images)
People wearing protective face masks along Orchard Road on 14 February. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — Home Team officers have been “working around the clock” as part of Singapore’s battle against the COVID-19 coronavirus situation, said Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam in Parliament on Monday (2 March).

“Many of the officers are on the frontlines. Now you look at the border control and health screening measures set up at the checkpoints, with hundreds of thousands of people coming in every day, securing the government quarantine facilities and check on persons under quarantine,” he said during his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate.

Shanmugam, who is also Law Minister, added that Home Team officers have also been involved in conducting swabbing operations for suspect cases and conveying suspect cases to hospital.

He also elaborated on how the police force’s Criminal Investigation Department has been providing crucial support to the Ministry of Health in its contact tracing operations.

“They have done quite exceptional work, and the kind of contact tracing that has been done is very detailed. I don’t think you see a parallel anywhere else in the world,” he said.

Meanwhile, MHA’s non-frontline officers are also involved in the Multi-ministry Task Force as part of the whole-of-government response to the COVID-19 crisis.

MHA also chairs the inter-agency Homefront Crisis Executive Group, which helps to ensure the smooth running of crisis response operations.

“All of that, of course, comes on top of the officers’ day-to-day responsibilities, which have to carry on,” said Shanmugam.

Earlier in his speech, he cited a recent public perception survey that found 89 per cent of respondents expressing confidence in the Home Team’s ability to manage national crises.

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