Number Of SDAs Will Decrease Eventually, S’poreans Encouraged To Remain Socially Responsible

Number Of SDAs Patrolling Singapore Will Eventually Decrease

Singaporeans have become pretty familiar with Safe Distancing Ambassadors (SDAs) in the past 2 years. These officers patrol our shopping malls and parks, ensuring strict adherence to safe distancing measures.

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However, SDAs will soon become a less common sighting in Singapore. In a press conference on 24 Mar, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong announced that the number of SDAs will decrease if more Singaporeans can uphold social responsibility.

The drastic easing of Covid-19 restrictions in Singapore announced on Thursday (24 Mar) would also cause the need for SDAs to fall eventually.

Number of SDAs to decrease

Responding to a question about SDAs in light of the relaxed restrictions, Mr Wong announced in a press conference today (24 Mar) that their number will be reduced.

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Instead, Singaporeans must now shoulder the social responsibility of ensuring public safety by adhering to safe management measures.

This was emphasised during the conference when Mr Wong encouraged Singaporeans to “take on more social and personal responsibility, and rely less on external forces or enforcement checks.”

Mr Wong explained,

If more people can do this and uphold that sort of attitude of personal responsibility… we will scale back our SDAs.

However, some SDAs will still be present on our streets. Safe management measures will still be implemented, and Mr Wong has asserted that SDAs will be present to enforce them.

SDAs will be redeployed to sectors facing lack of manpower

Mr Wong also thanked SDAs for 2 years of hard work during the conference.

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He acknowledged their efforts in reducing the risk of transmissions between individuals and helping with ensuring safe distancing in Singapore.

Addressing how SDAs can cope with the fall in demand, Mr Wong said the ambassadors would be redeployed to sectors with high demand for manpower.

Elaborating on this, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung pointed out that much of the operational staff in the Ministry of Health (MOH) carrying out contact tracing and operating call centres are from the aviation sector.

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With the reopening of borders, such staff will return to their previous occupation. SDAs will, therefore, be able to explore new employment opportunities in MOH.

We thank SDAs for their hard work

For the past 2 years, SDAs have been hard at work, enforcing safe management measures and ensuring that health risks are kept to a minimum.

We thank them for their role in keeping Singapore safe throughout the pandemic.

As we advance towards living with Covid-19, we must remember to exercise social responsibility. Adhere to safe management measures and, above all, remember that we are still in the middle of a pandemic.

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Featured image adapted from grainfalls on Unsplash and CNA on YouTube.