Covid-19 crisis Closing the border is not sensible
Singapore close our borders to reduce the imported cases of covid infections. This is not a sensible approach. It destroys our tourism industry.

If the covid infection is serious, we should implement measures to reduce social contact. If the infection is not serious and does not lead to many cases of intensive care and deaths, we do not need to worry about it to an extreme extent.

Take the case of Victoria state in Australia. They are alarmed at the increase in infection. They imposed a curfew at night and restricted access during the day. 

They do not bother about border control, because few people from outside will want to visit the state and the proportion of infected people from outside is probably lower than the proportion within the state.

It does not make any sense to implement more restrictive measures on incoming visitors when they are less likely to be infected compared to the local residents.

Enforcing a strick 7 or 14 day quarantine or stay home notice is not a good approach. I describe it as "insane".

If the spread is serious, we can implement control over the entire population. There is no need to single out incoming visitors for quarantine or stricter control.

Tan Kin Lian

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