President Halimah Yacob among several public figures to test positive for Covid-19

SINGAPORE — President Halimah Yacob on Monday (July 4) said that she has tested positive for Covid-19.

In a Facebook post, Mdm Halimah said that she tested positive for the coronavirus with “mild flu-like symptoms”.  

“Thankfully, I have been vaccinated and boosted. I hope to recover soon and am sorry to have to miss the events this week,” she added.

In a comment on her post, Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin added that he was also infected.

“Please take care Madam President! I just tested positive, too!” Mr Tan wrote.

On his Facebook page, Mr Tan wrote that his “Covid-free days are over”.

“Checked before Parliament sitting today and, unfortunately, would not be able to be part of these two days' sitting. Thanks to my deputies Christopher de Souza and Jessica Tan for holding the fort,” he said.

During the sitting on Monday, Mr Alvin Tan, Minister of State for the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, announced that Mr Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, had tested positive for Covid-19.

“Mr Deputy Speaker, sir, may I have your permission to have questions one to 20 taken as part of the ministerial statement to be delivered by the Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, Mr Edwin Tong, at tomorrow’s seating or at a seating in August 2022 if he’s still Covid-positive tomorrow,” Mr Alvin Tan asked.

Mr Tong was due to reply to parliamentary questions from Members of Parliament on the Government's takeover of the Singapore Sports Hub.

Earlier on Saturday, Mdm Halimah attended the National University of Singapore Bukit Timah Homecoming event, where she spent the evening “reconnecting with former classmates”.

The event commemorated the 65th anniversary of the Faculty of Law with a cake-cutting ceremony.

Before that, Mdm Halimah had officiated the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Day parade on Friday.

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong warned that Singapore "must expect'' Covid-19 cases to rise as the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus are more infectious and transmissible than previous ones.

However, he added that the authorities will not be tightening Covid-19 regulations for now because the situation in hospitals is stable.