Singapore has long been lauded for its efforts against the Covid-19 pandemic. With swift and effective decisions, the nation has kept its numbers relatively under control. It shouldn’t come as a surprise therefore that we’re now the safest country during the pandemic, beating the likes of New Zealand.
As Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan put it last year, the emergence of the pandemic is an ‘acid test’ for countries.
The Covid-19 Resilience Ranking is a system that ranks where the pandemic has been handled most effectively.
This data covers various aspects such as social and economic disruption, mortality, testing rates, vaccine access, and freedom of movement.
In the accompanying video published by Bloomberg, some details were shared on how this feat was achieved.
The points raised included the ‘Circuit Breaker’ period, border curbs, a strict quarantine programme, 20% of the population being vaccinated, and potential travel bubbles.
For as long as this ranking system has existed, New Zealand has claimed the throne.
The country’s emphasis on effective communication and shutting down of its borders, which have proven to be key metrics for containment success, are some of the major factors for their reign.
However, the kicker seems to be the vaccination rate, as Singapore has already vaccinated a fifth of their population.
In contrast, only 4.5% of New Zealand’s population have received at least their first dose so far, notes The Guardian.
The vast difference thus pushes Singapore ahead in the rankings, from our previous second spot.
With the great progress so far, we’re closer to achieving our goal of vaccinating all eligible individuals by the end of 2021.
Of course, this is dependent on vaccine supply and the willingness of individuals to get the vaccine.
If both are in good stead, we’ll most certainly be on track towards hitting the target.
Although the potential upsides of being Covid-19-free seems like an idealistic fantasy, we’re holding on to hope that it’ll be a reality some day.
With travel bubbles being finalised with nations around the region, we’re taking significant steps towards returning to normalcy.
The path ahead may still seem uncertain, but we’ll keep doing our best to remain the safest place to be in this pandemic.
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Featured image adapted from Jisun Han on Unsplash & Singapore General Hospital on Facebook.
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