Too early to say if Covid-19 cases will emerge from Polling Day queues: Lawrence Wong

The Elections Department (ELD) did its best to keep voters safe on Polling Day and it is too early to say if infections would occur as a result of voters having to wait in line for upwards of an hour in some places, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong yesterday.

"Whether or not anything happens after this, whether there will be any cases emerging, we will not know now... So I think let's not jump to the conclusion just because we see queues forming," said Mr Wong.

"Queues form everywhere, not just when people go and cast the vote. Queueing per se is not an activity that will necessarily cause the transmission of the virus."

The voting process in the election on July 10 could have been lengthened because of the extra precautions that had to be taken.

Mr Wong said the ELD did its best in implementing safety measures, such as providing hand sanitisers and spacing voters out.

He also said the crowds of people who gathered in some places to celebrate as results came in may have put themselves and others at risk of contracting Covid-19.

"Ideally, they would have practised safe distancing, the people who were there. They know who they are. But I think the moment got the better of them, and they perhaps forgot some of these requirements," said Mr Wong, who co-chairs the Covid-19 task force with Health Minister Gan Kim Yong. "Any time anyone decides to abandon caution... they put themselves and they put the whole country at risk."

When asked about the stance on enforcement, given that police officers on the ground appeared to have held back, Mr Wong said there was no change to enforcement of safe distancing rules, but stressed individual responsibility.

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He said some countries that had successfully controlled the coronavirus outbreak are seeing a major resurgence in the number of cases, due to lapses such as individuals failing to observe safe distancing.

Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, director of medical services at the Ministry of Health, said the task force had been keeping "a very close watch" to ensure there would not be a rise in the number of cases as Singapore moved from one phase to another.

"I'm not focused entirely just on the GE or post-GE setting," he added. "If people are complacent and they lose that discipline, we can easily see clusters form."

Mr Gan said a second wave of infections "can occur regardless of whether or not there's an election". "What is important is each and every one of us plays our part to remain vigilant, even now and going forward," he added.

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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.