Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung he told parliament on Monday that the federal government is not imposing latest restrictions on travelers from China, as limited flight capability combined with current border policies have resulted in several imported cases – and even fewer serious cases – coming from China.
Ong said the federal government was “fully aware” that some Singaporeans fear the influx of tourists from China could lead on to a rise in infections.
Nevertheless, he said the variety of trips between Singapore and China was “very low” with lower than 1,000 people arriving from China on daily basis.
“We currently operate 38 weekly flights from China to Singapore, in comparison with around 400 pre-Covid flights,” he said.
Ong acknowledged that a latest, more dangerous variant could emerge in China because the virus spreads amongst a population of 1.4 billion, but said that to date it has not materialized.
Because of the wide coverage of vaccination, we will treat Covid-19 as an endemic disease.
Ong Ye Kung
Singapore’s Minister of Health
Ong said Singapore monitors this through GISAID, a non-profit organization that he said obtains virus sequencing data from authorities in major Chinese cities and provinces comparable to Beijing, Shanghai and Sichuan, which is processed at GISAID’s office in Singapore.
While there are “data gaps,” Ong said, “Data to date shows that the outbreak in China is being driven by variants which might be well-known and circulating in other regions of the world,” namely BA.5.2 and BF.7.
The present rules are effective
Up to now, greater than a dozen countries have announced latest rules for visitors from China. But Ong said Singapore has not done so because it already has effective border measures.
“Many countries have dismantled all their border control measures,” he said. “Singapore … kept the suitable measures precisely because we foresaw this risk.”
Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung attends the G-20 Summit meeting in Bali, Indonesia, October 27, 2022.
Sonny Tumbelaka | afp | Getty’s paintings
He said that while “many Singaporeans have forgotten this,” all travelers must either be fully vaccinated or have tested negative for Covid before entering, which is identical requirement Spain recently announced for travelers from China.
While South Korea reported that as much as 80% of its imported cases got here from China, Ong said lower than 5% of its imported cases into Singapore – about 200 people – got here from China in December, while “ASEAN countries accounted for over 50%”.
In the identical month, he said, seven imported cases became seriously unwell and just one was from China.
“Most of them are Singaporeans getting back from these countries and regions,” he said. “These are not big numbers, so the impact on our healthcare system was very small.”
Singapore’s ‘biggest concern’
The federal government’s ‘biggest concern’ is the emergence of a latest, more dangerous variant that might evade vaccine protection – a ‘nightmare variant’ [that] can push us back to square one,” Ong said.
If that happens, “it might be vital to reintroduce measures comparable to strict border controls, traveler quarantine, social restrictions, including group size restrictions, until a latest and effective vaccine is developed.”
To observe this, he said, Singapore would remain connected to a “global surveillance system”.
Ong said one other key issue is protecting Singapore’s healthcare system. Within the early stages of the pandemic, infections were the federal government’s most important concern, he said, but after the introduction of vaccines, the main target is now on severe infections.
He said 60% of individuals aged 18 and over had their vaccinations up so far by the top of 2022.
“Over the past 30 days, the variety of Covid-19 patients within the Intensive Care Unit is in the one digits,” he said. “Due to this fact, with a big selection of vaccinations, we will treat Covid-19 as an endemic disease.”
Why other rules may not work
Ong questioned the effectiveness of some travel rules imposed on Chinese travelers:
- PCR tests on arrival “are too late because travelers are already inside your borders” and are also sensitive, meaning they are going to “provide numerous positive cases from countries which might be experiencing or have just experienced a big wave” as recovered travelers can excrete dead virus fragments for weeks.
- Examination of sewage from airplanes depend on solid waste, which will probably be of limited use because the flight time from China to Singapore is not that long.
- Tests before departure “may turn out to be useful… [to] reduce the variety of imported infections”, however the low volume of travel between Singapore and China “more restricts the variety of imported infections”.
Ong added that if Singapore tested all travelers coming from China, there can be questions on travelers from other regions contributing to more infections and severe cases.
Ong called Covid outbreaks “the brand new normal”, saying “Today it’s China, tomorrow one other region.”
Roslan Rahman | afp | Getty’s paintings
“Furthermore, liberating [pre-departure tests] on travelers from one a part of the world where the variety of infections is high, are we contributing to the international precedent of imposing tests on travelers from countries experiencing a wave of infections?”
Ong added: “How will other countries treat Singapore travelers once we face one other wave of infections?”
“We do not discriminate”
Increasing the variety of flights with China
Singapore appears to be in the nice graces of the Chinese government and its people. Rein said Chinese travelers at the moment are heading to Singapore in addition to Thailand because “each countries welcome us.”
Singapore Airlines restored passenger service from Singapore to Beijing in late December. For starters, the service will only run twice a month.
Nevertheless, flights between Singapore and China account for “lower than 10% of pre-Covid flights” – accounting for around 1.5% of all flights at Singapore’s Changi Airport, Singapore’s transport minister, S. Iswaran, said on Monday.
He said overall passenger traffic and weekly flights at Changi Airport had returned to 80% pre-pandemic levels.
“Singapore and Chinese airlines have applied to operate more flights between the 2 countries,” Iswaran said, adding that the federal government is taking a “cautious and balanced” approach to restoring air connectivity with China.
Currently, greater than 60% of travelers arriving from China are Singaporean residents, everlasting residents or long-term pass holders, Iswaran said.
“Opening up China to the world is great news and something we look ahead to,” Ong said, adding that the federal government will fastidiously adjust the variety of trips “not less than until the wave of infections in China has clearly subsided.”