“You agonise over it, is it really worth it?” he says.
It was a $1 billion-a-week decision, but it worked. Days later, cases finally started falling. Cheng was typically working 14 or more hours a day, starting at 7.30am with a conference call with senior government officials to discuss the latest numbers and testing rates.
In the morning he would prepare notes for press conferences, readying himself for questions, which he says felt like prepping for an exam.
Days were a blur of Zoom meetings. In the evenings, meetings were scheduled with ministers, the premier or national cabinet following hours of talks with business, religious and ethnic leaders. He helped work out the priorities for improvements and nutted out policy for next steps.
As the second wave eased, focus shifted to things that could be done to reduce the pressure on the public. The single social bubble was developed for those suffering while living alone.