Covid surge prompts calls for return of masks in Singapore, airport scanners in Indonesia
- Covid cases in Singapore jumped to 32,035 in the week that ended on December 2, up considerably from the previous week of just over 22,000
- Meanwhile, Indonesian officials reinstalled thermal scanners at some border check points, include Jakarta’s main international airport and Batam’s ferry terminal
The goal is to slow the spread of a variety of germs, as a confluence of Covid, flu and other respiratory pathogens may set off wider outbreaks that ultimately stretch healthcare systems.
But it can be a fraught process, with the public highly attuned to the risk of draconian measures, which were put in place early in Asia at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and which lasted for much longer than in other parts of the world, coming back.
“These are all falsehoods,” he said.
Covid cases on the island nation, or at least the ones that have been reported, jumped to 32,035 in the week ended December 2 from just over 22,000 the previous week, according to Singapore’s health ministry.
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However, at this time, “there is no evidence that JN.1 presents an increased risk to public health relative to other currently circulating variants”, the CDC said in a December 8 statement.
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Indonesia’s health ministry has also urged Indonesians to postpone travelling to areas that are reporting a spike in Covid-19 cases, “complete their two-dose vaccination, wear masks and wash their hands and stay home should they fall sick”.