Jan 9 Parliament sitting: Ong Ye Kung to outline Singapore's response to global Covid-19 situation following China's reopening

SINGAPORE — Health Minister Ong Ye Kung will deliver a ministerial statement on Singapore’s response to the global Covid-19 situation in Parliament next Monday (Jan 9), with Members of Parliament (MP) set to ask questions about China’s easing of its travel restrictions.

China scrapped its stringent Covid border controls with effect from Jan 8, as it largely abandoned a so-called "zero Covid" policy designed to shield its 1.4 billion population from the coronavirus for three years.

More than a dozen countries, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, have imposed fresh travel regulations on travellers from China. 

In Singapore, border measures and vaccination requirements for travellers from China have remained unchanged, although the Ministry of Health said last Wednesday it will make appropriate adjustments “should the need arise”.

Based on an order paper released on Friday, Mr Yip Hon Weng, MP for Yio Chu Kang Single Member Constituency (SMC), has asked Mr Ong whether Singapore’s healthcare manpower is equipped to handle new Covid waves with countries such as China relaxing travel restrictions.

Dr Tan Wu Meng, a Jurong Group Representation Constituency (GRC) MP, asked for the Health Ministry’s latest assessment of a new variant merging while Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar GRC) asked if an additional Covid-19 booster dose will be necessary with more tourists from China set to visit Singapore.

Infectious diseases experts have previously told TODAY that the impact to Singapore’s healthcare system is low given the high immunity rate through a combination of vaccinations and natural infections.

Transport Minister S Iswaran will also deliver a ministerial statement on the “safe and orderly restoration of Singapore’s air connectivity”. 

The recent spotlight on alleged violations of minimum occupation period (MOP) rules for Housing and Development Board (HDB) flats is also set to be discussed on Monday, with MPs asking about the authorities’ methods for detecting such violations.

Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast GRC) has asked the Government how many flat owners were caught over the past 10 years not staying in their flat during the MOP period. The Workers’ Party’s Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) asked how many real estate agents were found helping to list properties that have not met the MOP rules for sale. 

Also on the agenda are questions about the new Manpower for Strategic Economic Priorities (M-SEP) scheme, which allows firms to raise their foreign worker quotas if they are deemed to contribute to Singapore’s economic priorities and committed to training resident workers.

Mr Desmond Choo (Tampines GRC), who is also assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress, asked what is the Government’s projected impact of the scheme on the wages and job opportunities of local workers.

Mr Yip asked what the Government is doing to help workers here who are affected by the scheme with retraining and employment.

Before the end of the sitting, Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai from the Progress Singapore Party is slated to deliver a speech on the selective en-bloc redevelopment scheme (Sers) at Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3. 

Mr Leong had previously submitted a petition to Parliament calling for a review of Sers and for a moratorium to be imposed on Sers pending an outcome of its review. 

Sers was thrown into the spotlight last year after some residents living in the chosen housing blocks on Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3 for the scheme expressed dissatisfaction over the need to top up money for similar-sized replacement flats based on early estimates of the compensation sums for their flats.

The outcry has since quietened after residents learnt their payouts will be higher than first estimated, though some concerns over how the compensations were calculated remain.