Singapore residents are expected to receive new reusable cloth masks, which have better bacterial filtration and are more breathable at the end of May.
Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing on Wednesday (6 May) said that the Government will work with People’s Association and Temasek Foundation to do a round of distribution to all residents in Singapore towards the end of the circuit breaker period once they have sufficient stock of the improved reusable masks.
With the constant research and development of local manufacturers and A*STAR, Mr Chan said that this new batch of masks would be an improved version with the “new and better” materials, which has higher protective qualities and also more comfortable to wear for long period of time.
In response to the media, he said that the Government had planned to distribute another round of reusable masks all the while because people will change their masks beyond a certain time and the reusable masks are “not reusable for eternity”.
The residents can collect the masks at community centres and Residents’ Committee (RC) centres, or from mask vending machines, says Mr Chan, adding that the details will be announced later this month.
He explained that these additional distribution efforts would allow every resident to collect their masks without rushing to collect them.
Hong Kong distributes reusable masks to residents via post while Singapore requires residents to collect from CCs
At the same time, the Hong Kong Government will also distribute the free reusable masks to all their residents, as announced on Tuesday (5 May).
It was reported that all holders of valid Hong Kong identity cards are eligible to obtain a mask while babies and infants will be excluded.
To receive the masks, the residents would need to register online and key in the required details such as identity card numbers, date of birth, mobile phone numbers and delivery address.
Each online registration would allow a maximum of six persons and the Government will deliver the masks to the door by post within two weeks after they receive the applications.
Not only this, Hong Kong government will also delivered the masks directly to the schools as every primary and kindergarten students will be given two masks without needed the parents to register.
Compared with Hong Kong, Singapore government requires residents to collect the masks from their nearest designated Community Club/Centres (CCs) and RC Centres in the previous mask distributions that took place in April and February.
For each registered home address, Singapore resident can collect one reusable masks and those collecting will have to bring along their identity card or birth certificate.
Meanwhile children below the age of 15 would also required to bring along the birth certificate or School Smartcard issued by TransitLink upon collection of mask.
However, the Singapore Government said the masks will be delivered to the residents with mobility issues and vulnerable segments of the population who may be unable to collect mask at the designated points
Earlier in the month of February, responding to the queries on why not mailing out the masks, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong in Parliament said that a collection exercise would be a more “prudent” way of distributing masks.
“We felt that if you were to distribute masks via post, there may well be wastage because some households will not need the masks,” said Mr Wong.
