21-day quarantine in Singapore for travellers from India

Agencies
April 22, 2021

Singapore, Apr 22: All travellers from India should be isolated for 21 days instead of 14 to help strengthen Singapore's defences against a new double mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2 that appears to be more infectious, reported The Straits Times citing experts on Thursday.

However, it is not yet necessary to ban flights from India, it said.

"A 14-day quarantine or SHN (stay home notice) would detect more than 98 per cent of Covid-19 cases, including those who were infected while on the plane," said Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, the vice-dean of global health at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

"A 21-day quarantine backed by specific tests would detect virtually all cases. However, that would impose a significant mental and financial cost" to the traveller, Yang said.

Singapore announced new safety measures on Tuesday, including fewer approvals for foreigners who are not permanent residents and are coming in from India, which is experiencing a second wave believed to be fuelled by a variant with a double mutation.

All travellers from India must now isolate for seven days at a residence after spending 14 days at a dedicated facility for those serving SHN.

The new measures have come amid a recent rise in locally-transmitted cases and as a new three-person cluster here has just been linked to a 43-year-old Indian national who was "probably reinfected" in India.

The work pass holder, who was asymptomatic, had tested positive on arrival from India on April 2 but was discharged after a few days as he was considered no longer infectious. But he went on to infect his sister-in-law and her husband.

Associate Professor Alex Cook, vice-dean of research from the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said the positive swab result could mean that the Indian was infectious or had recently recovered from an infection.

A serology test to look for Covid-19 antibodies was then done and the man tested positive, meaning that he was infectious at least two weeks ago. But it is now clear that he could have been infected sometime back and then reinfected recently, and hence tested positive on both tests.

Cook said this shows that it's vital to assess the interpretation of the combination of a positive swab and serology tests, given that it can be a reinfection case, and continued vigilance is key.

India's surging outbreak has prompted places such as Hong Kong and New Zealand to ban flights. But the Singapore daily had experts saying that it is not yet necessary to ban flights from India or tighten guidelines on social and other gatherings.

Infectious disease expert Leong Hoe Nam said while banning flights is easy, it is about achieving a balance, as there's also the need to support the economy and be compassionate in allowing family members to come to visit.

Flight bans provide just short-term relief, said Professor Teo Yik Ying, dean of the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

"If such flight bans were successful, we would have seen a much smaller Covid-19 footprint globally, given the number of flight bans and border closures in the early months of 2020," he said.

"What I suspect ... is that these new variants that have emerged in one country are in fact already circulating in other countries," Teo said.

It's better to prevent virus variants from going on to seed uncontrollable community outbreaks with a comprehensive strategy that includes stricter border controls for travellers from India, he said.

"This, together with the repeated testing that will be applied to such travellers, will greatly increase our ability to reduce any leakage into the community, such as what we have seen last week," Teo said.

He added that the 14-day quarantine was never able to detect 100 per cent of the cases.

"We know from the epidemiological data that there are people whose incubation period actually extends beyond 14 days, just that the chance of this happening is low," he said.

Meanwhile, 11 workers tested positive for Covid-19 at Westlite Woodlands dormitory on Wednesday -- the largest number of infections in the foreign worker dormitories in months.

A letter from Westlite Woodlands to its clients said that 11 of the residents at the dormitory were confirmed to have tested positive for Covid-19 as of Wednesday morning, reported the Channel News Asia (CNA), adding it has seen the letter.

The results are from 568 tests carried out on Tuesday for residents from levels two to seven of Block A of the dormitory, located at 2 Woodlands Sector 2.

According to the letter dated April 21, all the block residents, which number more than 1,100, will be sent to a government quarantine facility (GQF) for 14 days as a "precautionary measure".

Swab tests will also be conducted on all the remaining residents in Block B of the dormitory, it said.

The 11 dormitory cases did not appear in the Ministry of Health's case count on Wednesday, which said there was one new community Covid-19 infection and 14 imported cases.

One of the infected workers is the roommate of a worker who tested positive on Apr 19, said the Ministry of Manpower in a press release on Wednesday night.

As a close contact of the infected worker, he had already been quarantined.

There have been more than 54,000 Covid-19 cases detected in foreign worker dormitories since the start of the pandemic last year.

Although the numbers peaked in the middle of last year, cases in the dormitories have fallen dramatically and before Wednesday, there were only seven cases reported since Janary 1 this year.

As of Wednesday, Singapore has reported a total of 60,880 Covid-19 cases and 30 fatalities from the disease.

As of Tuesday, 60,540 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 74 confirmed cases who are still in hospital including one in critical condition in the intensive care unit while 221 are isolated and cared for at community facilities for mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.

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News Network
March 17,2024

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New Delhi: The Election Commission on Sunday made public fresh data on electoral bonds, which it had submitted in sealed covers to the Supreme Court and was later asked to put it in public domain.

These details are believed to be pertaining to the period before April 12, 2019. Electoral bond details after this date was made public by the poll panel last week.

The BJP encashed electoral bonds totalling Rs 6,986.5 crore; maximum Rs 2,555 crore received in 2019-20, as per the EC data.

The Trinamool Congress received Rs 1,397 crore through electoral bonds, second largest recipient after BJP, as per the EC data.

On the other hand, the Congress redeemed a total of Rs 1,334.35 crore through electoral bonds.

DMK received Rs 656.5 crore through electoral bonds, including Rs 509 crore from lottery king Santiago Martin's Future Gaming.

BJD encashed electoral bonds worth Rs 944.5 crore, YSR Congress Rs 442.8 crore, TDP Rs 181.35 crore.

Political parties had filed data on electoral bonds in sealed cover as directed by the Supreme Court's interim order dated April 12, 2019, the poll panel said in a statement.

"Data so received from political parties was deposited in the Supreme Court without opening sealed covers. In pursuance of the Supreme Court's order dated March 15, 2024, the Registry of the Supreme Court has returned physical copies along with a digitized record of the same in a pen drive in sealed cover. The Election Commission of India has today uploaded the data received in the digitized form from the registry of the Supreme Court on electoral bonds on its website," EC said.

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News Network
March 16,2024

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Ottawa, Mar 16: An Indian-origin couple and their teenage daughter were killed in a "suspicious" fire which tore through their home last week in Canada's Ontario province, police said on Friday.

A fire engulfed a home at the Big Sky Way and Van Kirk Drive area of Brampton on March 7, a press release by the Peel Police said.

After the blaze was put out, investigators located what was believed to be human remains within the gutted house, but the number of people killed couldn't be ascertained at the time.

The charred remains were on Friday identified as those of three family members: 51-year-old Rajiv Warikoo; his wife, 47-year-old Shilpa Kotha; and their 16-year-old daughter, Mahek Warikoo.

Police said that they resided at the address before the fire.

Peel police Constable Taryn Young on Friday said the fire had been deemed suspicious, the CTV news channel reported.

"At this time, we are investigating this with our homicide bureau, and we are deeming this as suspicious as the Ontario Fire Marshal has deemed that this fire was not accidental," the report quoted Young as saying.

"There's not much left to it," Young said when asked about the possible cause of the fire.

"Looking into something like that as a fire marshal, I'm sure it's very tough when there is not much left to look at. But we are exhausting all avenues," she said.

The deceased family's neighbour, Kenneth Yousaf, said that the family had lived on the street for about 15 years, and he never noticed any problems with them.

Yousaf said he was alerted to the fire last week by a family member, who heard a big "bang." "When we came out, the house was on fire. So sad. Within a few hours, everything was down to the ground," the report quoted Yousaf as saying.

In a press release, police said they are continuing to investigate the deaths of the three family members and urged anyone with information to come forward.

"The circumstances surrounding the house fire remains the focus of an active investigation, and anyone with information or video footage (dashcam or otherwise) is urged to contact Homicide detectives," police said.

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News Network
March 22,2024

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The start of the world’s most lucrative cricket tournament in India is presenting investors with another big opportunity to cash in on the sport, months after the world’s most populous nation hosted the Cricket World Cup.

The eight-week long Indian Premier League begins March 22 for its 17th season. Since its inception, the fast-paced cricket tournament has become a corporate juggernaut to rival the National Football League in the US and the English Premier League in value.

Just as October’s Cricket World Cup boosted consumption in India for months, fans are expected to flock to restaurants, pubs and food delivery platforms over the duration of the tournament. This year’s IPL also coincides with general elections that will last for six weeks starting April 19, a period when companies are expecting higher food and drink sales as people flock to rallies and other events.

“There’s going to be a lot of spending,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. “IPL, as well as the election, gives a three-month corridor with enhanced economic activity.”

Stocks in India such as McDonald’s franchise operator Westlife Foodworld Ltd. and peer Sapphire Foods India Ltd. gained ahead of the first match on Friday, as well as hotels and beverage makers. Packaged-food companies could also stand to benefit from the IPL craze, said Sachil Bobade, an analyst at investment firm Dolat Capital Market.

The IPL ecosystem was valued at $11 billion (Rs 91,721 crores) in 2023, including the value of media rights and sponsorships, according to Indian valuation consulting firm D&P Advisory.

The league is also attracting record sums of money from sponsors and broadcasters. Conglomerate Tata Group won the title sponsorship rights of the tournament in January for a record 25 billion rupees ($300 million). Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s media venture secured the digital streaming rights in 2022 for five years for $2.7 billion, while Walt Disney Co. paid roughly the same for TV rights.

“There was a serious amount of bidding even this year,” said Vinit Karnik, head of entertainment, esports and sports at media agency GroupM South Asia. “I see growth in IPL in double digits year-on-year,” he adds.

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