Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan last week assured that the use of the contact tracing TraceTogether token will not be “mandatory”.
His statement came after authorities announced that it will be compulsory to use the TraceTogether mobile application or token to check-in at venues such as workplaces, schools, malls as well as food and beverage outlets in tandem with the Government’s plans to further reopen the economy under Phase Three.
People will not be able to check-in by way of scanning their identification cards or SafeEntry QR codes with their phones at the above venues. Instead, they will be required to use TraceTogether.
Dr Balakrishnan told reporters during a doorstop at Buona Vista Community Club (CC) last Sunday (25 October) that over 400,000 tokens have been collected presently. More than 50 per cent of the population is under the TraceTogether programme, he added, including the 2.5 million users of the TraceTogether app.
Responding to a question on whether the Government will eventually target an adoption rate of 100 per cent for TraceTogether, Dr Balakrishnan replied: “I’ve done my best to avoid making it mandatory.”
“And I will keep repeating this message that this is about collective responsibility, looking out for our loved ones, our friends and our social circles, and I’m glad with the progress that we’ve made so far on a voluntary basis,” he added.
Dr Balakrishnan revealed that “several million” more TraceTogether tokens are currently in production. The current production target is 2.7 million tokens.
“This is a number that we can adjust according to demand,” he said.
The TraceTogether tokens can be collected at 38 CCs across the country. The tokens is slated to be made available at all 108 CCs nationwide by the end of next month.
Those who already have the TraceTogether app do not need to collect the token, according to the Token Go Where website.
