The Government has announced plans to open up Singapore in a cautious and calibrated manner.

Some may feel that we are opening up too fast while others feel that we are overly cautious. The balance between lives and livelihoods is a difficult one.

We now know much more about how Covid-19 spreads. We cannot completely eliminate all risks, but we can mitigate and contain an outbreak.

An effective approach is to think more about how risks can be reduced to an acceptable level for all activities.

When we cannot mitigate the risk, we should then consider whether the activity is essential.

We know that the coronavirus loves crowds and enclosed spaces. Length of contact is another key factor. Talking and singing give rise to more respiratory droplets. The elderly and people with underlying conditions are particularly vulnerable. The touching of common surfaces is also a risk.

So how do we minimise these risks to a level that is acceptable?

Actions we can take include: wearing masks, talking less in crowded areas, washing our hands regularly, not touching our faces, contact tracing and not going out if we do not feel well.

While dining at hawker centres and foodcourts is a key activity for Singaporeans, I find it difficult to cut the risk to an acceptable level.

There was a suggestion that we open 50 per cent of the dine-in capacity. Given the structure of food centres, it is hard to maintain a 1m distance from others at a table meant for four even if you reduce the capacity to two.

You have to remove your mask while you eat. How do you make sure the people queueing for food remain 1m away from you?

Places of worship can reopen with measures in place, such as preventing crowds and singing.

Crowding is a problem for bars, pubs and major sporting events.

If we scrutinise each sector using risk containment as the key criteria, we can open up more businesses without increasing the risks.

Ang Miah Boon