Covid-19 crisis A bad approach to close borders
I do not agree with the approach to close the borders to prevent the spread of the corona virus. 

I wish to explain my reason.

It is appropriate to close the border if the virus is under control among your own residents and incoming visitors are likely to carry the virus from another country.

If the virus is quite widely spread within your community, there is no reason to believe that the incoming visitors will worsen the situation. It may well be that the incoming visitors are less infected than your own residents.

If the disease has already spread quite widely in the community, we should take measures to stop the spread - such as social distancing and the wearing of masks. This can apply to residents and incoming visitors. There is no need to close the border.

Similarly, it is not necessary or logical to impose a quarantine or stay home requirement for incoming visitors. There is no reason to suspect that they are more likely to have the virus than the local residents. The quarantine in a hotel is an expensive exercise for the individual or the state. This cost should be avoided.

We should manage the containment of the virus in a logical way, and not rely too much on closing the border or imposing a quarantine. It is better to treat everybody in a similar way, and to focus on the real risk - i.e. to identify the people who are infected and quarantine them.

If we take practical measures to control the spread of the virus and not adopt excessive measures, we are likely to suffer a small economic impact. 

That should be a better approach.

Tan Kin Lian

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