Coronavirus: Singapore tightens rules for travellers from South Korea; Thai lockdown held off

All visitors from South Korea will now be required to serve a two-week quarantine at dedicated facilities

The city state also detected one case of the more contagious Covid-19 strain that first emerged in the UK

3-MIN READ3-MIN

A woman walks past a park closed to prevent spread of the Covid-19 in Seoul. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:58pm, 24 Dec 2020Updated: 6:54pm, 24 Dec 2020

Singapore now requires all travellers from South Korea to serve a 14-day quarantine at dedicated facilities due to “a sustained surge in cases” in the East Asian country, according to a statement.

Previously those with a history of travel to South Korea in the past 14 days would have been allowed to serve their quarantine at a place of residence. The new directive comes into effect from 11.59pm on December 26. The ruling also applies to returning Singapore-based travellers under the reciprocal green lane with South Korea.

The city state also detected one case of the more contagious Covid-19 strain that first emerged in the UK and is now leading to tougher restrictions in many parts of the world.

Further tests of Covid-19 cases who had arrived in Singapore from Europe over the month through December 17 show that a 17 year-old Singaporean girl has the so called B117 strain, and 11 others are preliminarily positive for it, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday.

The girl, who had been studying in the UK, arrived in Singapore on December 6 and was confirmed to have an infection on December 8. Her case was included in that day’s case count.

“As she had been isolated upon arrival in Singapore, we were able to ring-fence this case so that there was no further transmission arising from her,” the ministry said. “There is currently no evidence that the B117 strain is circulating in the community.”