Mission Updates

Q: "Singapore has brought in a range of measures which have been held up as being as good as they can get. You've restricted the number of SARS cases to fewer than 200. The overwhelming majority of those who do catch the virus will recover and yet, you spoke of the SARS crisis in terms of it being the worst crisis which Singapore could face. Why are you using such language?"

Mr Goh: "Well, I think, apart from the human cost, the other big worry is the cost on the economy because this is actually a crisis of fear. People don't quite understand what it is and if business does not come to Singapore and our social behaviour changes dramatically, the economy is going to be hit very badly."

Q: "So, as it stands at the moment, what is giving you more cause for concern? Is it the actual virus, or is it the fear of paralysis, or fear of the economy paralysing because of fear of the virus?"

Mr Goh: "I would say both because if we can contain the virus, then we can also contain the paranoia, the fear about this spreading. If we can't contain this and this gets out of hand, then, of course, you are going to have a very big problem, not just on people's behaviour and livelihood, but on the whole economy. "

Q: "By talking in terms of this being potentially the worst crisis that Singapore has faced, aren't you in danger of stoking up that fear?"

Mr Goh: "Well, I think I'm being realistic because we do not quite know how this will develop. This is a global problem and we are at the early stage of the disease. If it becomes a pandemic, then that's going to be a big problem for us."

Q: "How are you going about deciding where to strike the balance between warning people and making people aware of the virus and actually going so far that you're actually worrying them?"

Mr Goh: "At the moment, I'd rather be proactive and be a little overreacting so that we get people who are to quarantine themselves to stay at home. The whole idea is to prevent the spread of the infection. At the moment, nine out of ten infections take place in the hospitals and the home setting is probably less than one. If we can keep it that way, we can contain the problem."

Q: "Over the last couple of days, though, we have had this development that the virus might have been seen to spread to a market. How worried are you about that development?"

Mr Goh: "At the moment, it is still not quite worrying because we are trying to trace where that infected person came from, and how did he get the infection. It's still not yet a community spread, but we are watching all this quite carefully."

Q: "In the last couple of weeks, you have moved on from just talking about the virus and how to protect yourself to encouraging people to try and live their lives as normally as possible. How realistic is that, though, bearing in mind that we are getting new causes of SARS in Singapore more or less everyday and the headlines are dominated by worrying and dramatic stories about the issue?"

Mr Goh: "There are two approaches. One is to have a shut-down approach. That means SARS is in Singapore, and you shut down almost everything. The other is to isolate and contain the problem, which means that if we can do that, then life can be lived as normally as possible. Of course, the first approach is not possible and not practical. People must make a living, we've got to keep the economy humming. So, I am concentrating on the second approach. At the same time, we have to win the trust of Singaporeans and their confidence and if you are not transparent and objective and open about the situation, you lose their trust and confidence. It is a difficult task to balance both: transparency and openness and yet not causing alarm to Singaporeans and those outside Singapore."

Q: "Do you think you have succeeded in striking that balance so far?"

Mr Goh: "I think within Singapore, yes, but those outside Singapore, we still have not been able to reach out to them that Singapore is still safe to visit."

Q: "How can you do that when people see Singapore almost as a plagued state if they don't know the reality of the situation?"

Mr Goh: "Well, I think through people like yourself, we can transmit the messages overseas that there's a problem, but as epidemics go, this one is not as bad because the infectivity rate is, in fact, very low and the mortality rate is also very low compared to people dying from malaria, cholera or dengue fever, for that matter."

Q: "You want more people to visit Singapore to do their business as normal, but, of course, every plane that arrives at Changi Airport is potentially carrying the SARS virus. So, have you considered actually stopping people coming in from the worst-affected areas?"

Mr Goh: "No. What we hope to do will be to put in stringent controls. At the moment, we are all worried about terrorism and so, we got to be cleared. Our shoes got to be examined even, our bags and you have to pass through metal detectors. Well, I think, why not get every passenger embarking in a SARS-infected country to be examined, screened for their potential in getting SARS. Take their temperature, for example, and within a matter of weeks, I think there should be a diagnostic kit that can actually screen passengers more effectively. If we can do that, we can give every passenger a health certificate, screened for SARS. Then we build confidence in the travelling public and in the host-countries."

Q: "The leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are meeting in Bangkok next week to discuss the virus. What do you hope to get out that meeting?"

Mr Goh: "Well, first, we would like to share our experience with one another. Singapore has gone through quite a lot compared to the other countries. We will share our experience, how we prevent infection from getting out of control within Singapore. Secondly, we have to discuss measures of how to prevent the infection from one country spreading to another country and, third, we have to give confidence to people outside Asean that measures are in place and you can still come to Asean and do your business, provided you avoid certain places which we will tell you to avoid. Then, the risk of contracting the disease will be very, very small."

Q: "Isn't this a discussion which should have been taking place much earlier in the process when SARS was in its early stages?"

Mr Goh: "Well, if you look back, of course, the answer is "yes", but we took the initiative to convene this meeting and you need to give the leaders one week to also gather their thoughts and to decide what they can or cannot do, you see."

Q: "Looking at the situation in China, China seems to be taking the problem much more seriously now and seems to be much more transparent about the scale of the problem. Is that something which you wish they'd been doing weeks, if not months ago?"

Mr Goh: "Oh, I think WHO would have wished that they had done in November last year and all of us would be much happier. It started in November last year, but most of us were not aware that there was a problem in China. I think in China's case, it's a big country and the provinces do not always tell the centre what's happening in a particular province. The reason is simple -- everybody hopes this will go away, just try and hide it because will be affected, livelihood will be affected. But it's a wrong tactic or strategy if you look back."

Q: "So, has there been an element of frustration on your government's part looking at the situation there and thinking to yourselves, well, they should be talking about this in much more graphic terms and dealing with it much more readily?"

Mr Goh: "No, we leave it to the WHO. The WHO is in charge of all this and the worry of WHO is the spread, not just from China, but from other countries to other parts of the world and that, we must try to prevent."

Q: "Prime Minister, thank you."

Mr Goh: "Welcome."