Singapore healthcare sector

JAKARTA (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore businesses hope Indonesia's new 'Omnibus Law' will bring essential reforms in a wide range of areas from business permits to labour, enabling businesses to operate more efficiently in South-east Asia's largest economy. The law aims to simplify processes to get business licences and also introduces flexibility in the country's labour market by easing recruitment and outsourcing. "The Positive Investment List, a regulation issued as part of the Omnibus Law, opens up sectors such as energy, telecommunication, transportation and construction services to 100 per cent FDI," a spokesman for Enterprise Singapore (ESG) told The Straits Times by email. The spokesman noted that the recently-established Indonesia Investment Authority (INA) could also help catalyse investments into infrastructure projects. The head of the Singapore permanent committee at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Dr Michael Goutama, described the law ... » Learn More about Singapore investors welcome Indonesia’s new Omnibus Law

SINGAPORE: More than 150,000 teachers and other workers in the education sector will be offered COVID-19 vaccinations from Wednesday (Mar 10). The exercise is in line with the Ministry of Health's (MOH) efforts to extend vaccination to workers who offer essential services, said the Ministry of Education (MOE), the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) and the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA). "It complements existing efforts to keep our educational institutions safe, as children and the majority of our students are not yet medically eligible for vaccination," they said in a joint news release. Currently, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine is approved for use only in individuals aged 16 and above. Meanwhile, the Moderna vaccine is only approved for use in individuals aged 18 years and older. READ: Singapore to vaccinate migrant workers against COVID-19, starting with 10,000 dormitory residents The vaccination exercise for the education sector will ... » Learn More about More than 150,000 workers in education sector to be offered COVID-19 vaccine from Mar 10

The MOE said that this is in line with the Ministry of Health's efforts to extend vaccination to personnel who offer essential services. "It complements existing efforts to keep our educational institutions safe, as children and the majority of our students are not yet medically eligible for vaccination," said the MOE. The exercise will cover all staff in primary schools, secondary schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute, as well as those in special education schools, the Institute of Technical Education and polytechnics. Vaccination will also be extended to staff at pre-schools licensed by the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) and all MOE-registered kindergartens, as well as those at early intervention centres and programmes funded by or registered with ECDA for children with developmental needs, aged six and under. Staff of private schools registered with MOE that have full-time students below 18 years old, private education institutions - including ... » Learn More about Singapore: Over 150,000 staff in educational institutions to be offered Covid-19 vaccine from March 10; 13 new imported cases

SINGAPORE - Travellers flying with Singapore Airlines (SIA) will be able to view their Covid-19 test results and use them to check in at Changi Airport with a single app, potentially paving the way for travel without stay-home notices and quarantine. The software has been developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to make travel more seamless amid the pandemic. It works by integrating Covid-19 testing with passengers' boarding credentials. SIA is the world's first airline to use IATA's Travel Pass in a trial, which will begin with passengers flying from Singapore to London from March 15 to 28. If this proves a success, the app could could be rolled out globally. SIA said on Monday (March 8) that the trial could allow it to use the framework for its own SingaporeAir mobile app as early as mid-2021. "Participants will have full control over how their personal information is shared, as the data is stored locally in the mobile phone and not in any central ... » Learn More about SIA trials app for Covid-19 test booking and check-in

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The Indonesian government has laid down the ground rules for its new law on job creation, widely seen as an ambitious regulatory reform to lure foreign investments and stimulate the pandemic-hit economy. President Joko Widodo signed 49 "implementing rules" last month to provide officials with specific details on how the law would be applied in practice and guide businesses on how they should operate. He had signed two others late last year, soon after the law was passed on Oct 5 amid violent nationwide protests over workers' rights and environmental concerns. The regulations include those on foreign workers and local hires, the implementation of special economic zones and a new framework that governs which business sectors are open or restricted to foreign investors. "The job creation law was meant to be a positive stimulus to grow the national economy, which will in turn create many job opportunities," Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna ... » Learn More about Indonesia eases rules in major foreign investment reform