New Minsters to take over on May 15 : Will it change the fight of Covid-19?

There will be new Ministers helming different Ministries from May 15.

Given that Singapore will go into Phase 2  Heighten Alert (aka CB1.5) from May 16. It will be interesting to see if these changes will affect any of the restrictions rolled out today. 

These are the changes that will be keenly watched.

Minister of Education:  Minister Chan Chun Sing ( Former Trade and Industry Minister)

Minister of Health:  Minister Ong Ye Kung ( Former Minister of Transport)

Minister of Finance: Minister Lawrence Wong ( Former Minister of Education)

Of keen interest will be the change of the Ministry of Education. Given that 6 schools were identified to have Covid-19 cases within a period of 2 weeks. It would be a challenge to balance the fears of parents, as well as managing expectations of potential HBL if the situation worsens. 

The next obvious hot seat would be the Minister of Health. With the growing number of local community cases and the introduction of Phase 2 Heighten Alert, there will be challenges from Day 1 on how to stem the spread of the virus.

For the Ministry of Finance, the challenge will be to mitigate the economic fallout of labour shortage due to restrictions on air travel. The impact of the month-long CB 1.5 on certain groups of workers. Self-employed and freelancers will suffer the brunt of the restrictions as their jobs would usually be dependant on the gig economy.  Will there be more help for this group of people as well as the general population?

The music will stop playing from tomorrow and everyone will be settled in their seats. Will the newly-minted Ministers be up to speed in their new roles? 

Only time will tell.