Temperature and visual screening will be carried out at Changi and Seletar airports.
Temperature and visual screening will be carried out at Changi and Seletar airports from Friday as a precaution against MPOX, after a confirmed case of a potentially more severe variant was reported in Sweden and Thailand.
The Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Transport and Immigration and the Checkpoints Authority said they will enhance Singapore’s surveillance capabilities against infectious diseases at the borders.
Similar screening measures will also be implemented at maritime checkpoints for crew and passengers arriving on ships from mpox-affected areas, The Straits Times reported.
The Ministry of Health said that while there are no direct flights between Singapore and any country with an outbreak of the virus, there will be temperature and visual screening at Changi and Seletar airports for incoming travellers and crew arriving on flights from locations that may be exposed to an outbreak of the viral disease.
Health notices have also been put in place at air traffic control points, so that travellers can take the necessary personal precautions to avoid becoming infected.
Travelers are strongly advised to follow the recommendations, especially if traveling to or from affected countries. Those who develop fever, rash or symptoms compatible with Mpox will be referred for medical evaluation.
The Ministry of Health said that to date no cases of MPOX clade I have been detected in Singapore, but that it is closely monitoring the global situation and that the outbreak remains largely confined to Africa, with two more severe cases of MPOX clade I reported in Sweden and Thailand. There are currently no reports of local spread in these two countries.
On 14 August, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared African swine flu (MPOX) a global public health emergency for the second time in two years. As no cases of the more severe type I virus exported outside the African continent had been reported, the Ministry of Health then said the immediate risk to public health in Singapore was low.
Infectious disease experts also said at the time that there was no need for visitors from countries where MPOX is circulating, or Singaporeans returning home, to quarantine themselves if they did not have any symptoms.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 27,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths since January 2023 in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
A high percentage of cases have been reported in children under 15 years of age.
“We must be vigilant. We must wait for it to reach Singapore and when it does, respond appropriately and effectively,” Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung was quoted as saying by The Straits Times.
The MPOX outbreak in Africa and elsewhere is expected to spread to the Middle East and Europe, with destinations to which Singapore has air connections, Ong said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern Congo and numerous cases in several neighbouring countries are of great concern.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First published: August 23, 2024 | 8:41 a.m. IS
Disclaimer:
The information contained in this post is for general information purposes only. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to the website or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained on the post for any purpose.
We respect the intellectual property rights of content creators. If you are the owner of any material featured on our website and have concerns about its use, please contact us. We are committed to addressing any copyright issues promptly and will remove any material within 2 days of receiving a request from the rightful owner.