Singapore says possible emergence of new Covid-19 variants in China a concern
- The health ministry said it is worried that infected travellers could pose a significant burden to its hospitals
- It added Singapore will take a ‘cautious approach’ towards increasing airline seat capacity as travel from China is restored
China’s large Covid infection wave is of particular concern amid a global increase in cases, the island’s health ministry said in a statement on Friday. The main worries are the possible emergence of new and more dangerous variants, and that infected travellers could add a significant burden to its hospitals, it said.
So far, “the strains circulating in China are known ones, and no new variants with greater transmissibility or severity than previously identified subvariants have been detected,” the ministry said. Singapore has been working with international partners to monitor new variants circulating globally, it said.
Singapore said its airport sees between 700-1,000 arrivals from China daily, or about 1 per cent-1.5 per cent of the total by air a day, mostly comprising of residents or long-term pass holders.
About 40 to 80 of the arrivals are detected to be positive with Covid-19 on a weekly basis, it said.
“As air travel with China is progressively restored, we will take a cautious approach towards increasing seat capacity, taking into account the overall public health assessment,” the government said.