While Singapore is one of the cleanest cities in the world with a good environmental public health system, we remain vulnerable to evolving public health threats, such as SARs, gastroenteritis incidents, and in today’s context, the Covid-19 pandemic.

The SG Clean Quality Mark was rolled out in early 2020 to encourage good hygiene practices to slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

The programme aims to galvanise collective action from individuals to local businesses to work together to keep Singapore clean, by adopting good hygiene habits and social responsibility to uphold good sanitation standards and hygiene practices.

The SG Clean Quality Mark also calls on organisations to adhere to sanitation and hygiene checklists by the authorities to ensure that these establishments meet the basic standards of good industry practices.

This helps to instil confidence in Singaporeans to shop and dine and support local businesses. These measures to elevate cleanliness and public hygiene in Singapore will help safeguard public health for the long term.

While the SG Clean Quality Mark will help to reduce public health risks from the current Covid-19 situation, the longer term objective is to instil greater awareness of good hygiene and cleaning practices, and to ensure that these are sustained at high levels beyond the current Covid-19 outbreak.

There is a need for us to be future ready, and be prepared for the threats of evolving diseases. We will never know when the next pandemic will hit us.

Hence, maintaining good personal and public hygiene is important. The SG Clean Quality Mark will help ensure that public accessible premises continue to uphold the good hygiene practices, and for us, as a nation to be ready for any future public health threats.