Singapore's Covid-19 Crisis Communication plan

Synopsis: This podcast series is based on selected chapters from a book detailing Singapore’s experience battling the Covid-19 pandemic. The book - written by journalists of The Straits Times and edited by ST’s executive editor Sumiko Tan - is titled In This Together: Singapore's Covid-19 Story and is available in major bookstores. Details online: https://www.stbooks.sg/

In this fifth of six instalments, ST's executive editor Sumiko Tan looks back at how the government communicated its Covid 19 strategy in the first two years of the pandemic. This included bringing back the 1990s sitcom character Phua Chu Kang to persuade people to get vaccinated, and setting up a hotline call centre during the hurried switch to home recovery in late 2021 when the Delta variant raged.

Highlights (click/tap above): (Headphones recommended)

01:13 Snippet from viral music video featuring actor Gurmit Singh playing Phua Chu Kang; Mr Daniel Lee, an officer from the Ministry of Communications and Information, explains how the video was meant to target those in their 40s and 50s

02:50 Mr Janadas Devan, Chief of Government Communications, on the importance of maintaining public trust

06:54 Learning and adapting: The biggest comms mistake?

08:21 In 2021, the challenge was to get the elderly vaccinated; more music video campaigns rolled out in Chinese dialects, Malay and Tamil

11:25 Ms Lam Wy-Ning, deputy director of the Case Management Contact Centre, on setting up and manning the Covid-19 hotline during the difficult Delta variant period; dealing with widespread fear, anxiety, confusion

14:25 Minister for Communications and Information Mrs Josephine Teo in Parliament in March 2022

Produced by: Sumiko Tan (sumiko@sph.com.sg ), Ernest Luis and Hadyu Rahim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

Audio snippets: Courtesy of MCI SINGAPORE, GOVSG YOUTUBE

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