Tag Archives: Singapore

Singapore confirms 41 cases locally transmitted ZIKA virus

Contractor fogs a condominium garden in Singapore in an effort to kill mosquitoes

By Marius Zaharia

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore has confirmed 41 cases of locally transmitted ZIKA virus, mostly among foreign construction workers, and said it expected more cases to be identified.

All but seven of those infected had fully recovered, the Health Ministry and the National Environment Agency said in a statement on Sunday. The seven remain in hospital.

On Saturday, authorities confirmed a 47-year-old Malaysian woman living in southeastern Singapore as the city-state’s first case of a local transmission of the virus.

Zika, carried by some mosquitoes, was detected in Brazil last year and has since spread across the Americas. The virus poses a risk to pregnant women because it can cause severe birth defects. It has been linked in Brazil to more than 1,600 cases of microcephaly, where babies are born with small heads.

Singaporean authorities said they tested 124 people, primarily foreign construction workers employed on a site in the same part of Singapore. That site has been ordered to halt work, and workers’ dormitories are being inspected. Seventy-eight people tested negative and five cases were pending. Thirty-four patients had fully recovered.

Four Singaporean men had developed symptoms of the virus in the past week and were hospitalized on Saturday. It was not clear where the foreign workers were from or when their cases were detected. Singapore hosts a large contingent of workers from the Asian subcontinent.

None of those infected had traveled recently to Zika-affected areas. “This confirms that local transmission of Zika virus infection has taken place,” the statement said.

The ministry “cannot rule out further community transmission since some of those tested positive also live or work in other parts of Singapore,” the statement said. “We expect to identify more positive cases.”

The World Health Organization said in a statement on Sunday that it did not know “which lineage of Zika is circulating” or “what the level of population immunity is to this lineage of Zika in Asia.”

“It is important for countries to remain vigilant through surveillance for cases, to continue vector control, to inform people about Zika and how they can protect themselves, and to have the health system ready to supply the services needed to prevent and manage Zika and its consequences,” the group told Reuters.

Singapore, a major regional financial center and busy transit hub, which maintains a constant vigil against the mosquito-borne dengue virus, reported its first case of the Zika virus in May, brought in by a middle-aged man who had been to Brazil.

CLEANUP

Singapore deployed about 200 NEA officers to clean drains and spray insecticide in the mainly residential area early on Sunday to counter mosquito breeding grounds, and volunteers and contractors handed out leaflets and insect repellent.

All medical services in Singapore had been alerted “to be extra vigilant” and immediately report any Zika-associated symptoms to the health ministry.

Singapore said there were “ongoing local transmission” cases in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. Other countries in the region to have detected the Zika virus since 2013 include Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives and the Philippines, according to the WHO.

Malaysia said on Sunday it stepped up surveillance at main transit points with Singapore – handing out leaflets on Zika prevention and having paramedics ready to handle visitors with potential symptoms of the virus.

In Thailand, where close to 100 cases of Zika have been recorded across 10 provinces this year, the Department of Disease Control was screening athletes returning from the Olympic Games in Brazil, but was not otherwise changing its prevention measures.

“Every country in this region has Zika transmission cases,” said Prasert Thongcharoen, an adviser to the DDC. “Thailand has, however, managed to contain the problem through early detection.”

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Indonesia was “following developments”. Oskar Pribadi, a Health Ministry official, said there had been no recent Zika cases in the country.

Vietnam has to date reported three cases of locally transmitted Zika infection.

The current strain of Zika sweeping through Latin America and the Caribbean originated in Asia, where people may have built up greater immunity.

(Reporting by Marius Zaharia; Additional reporting by Aradhana Aravindan in Singapore, A. Ananthalakshmi in Kuala Lumpur, Amy Lefevre in Bangkok, Agustinus Beo Da Costa in Jakarta, My Pham in Hanoi, Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Trevor Hunnicutt in New York; Editing by Ian Geoghegan and Peter Cooney)

Obama, Singapore leader push Pacific trade deal in state visit

Obama and Loong discussing Trans-Pacific Deal

By Timothy Gardner and Ayesha Rascoe

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama welcomed Singapore’s prime minister for a state visit on Tuesday with a major trade deal and China’s development of islands in the South China Sea at the top of their agenda.

Both the United States and Singapore are signatories to the 12 nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which Obama hopes Congress will approve before he leaves office in January.

Obama and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong touched on the trade issue at the opening ceremony for Lee’s visit, which is the first official one by a prime minister from Singapore since 1985.

“We stand together for a regional order where every nation large and small plays and trades by the same rules,” Obama said.

Lee said TPP would be a major trading group linking both sides of the Pacific. “Not only will the TPP benefit American workers and businesses, it will send a clear signal and a vital signal that America will continue to lead in the Asia Pacific and enhance the partnerships that link our destinies together,” he said.

The TPP faces a battle in Congress. Some U.S. voters blame trade deals for shutting factories, shipping jobs overseas and favoring corporations over the environment. The deal also is opposed by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and Donald Trump, a Republican.

Obama believes the TPP will fix problems in a previous trade deal, the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, and will create jobs by allowing people around the world to buy U.S. products. The TPP aims to liberalize commerce in 40 percent of the world’s economy and would be a check against China’s influence in Asia.

Also on the agenda during Lee’s visit will be China’s build up of islands in the South China Sea. China claims most of the energy-rich waters through which trillions of dollars worth of shipping trade passes annually and has been fortifying islands in the sea. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims there.

China has accused the United States of fuelling tensions in the region with patrols and exercises.

Singapore is not a claimant to the South China Sea, but the tiny city-state has the largest defense budget in Southeast Asia at a time when nations are stepping up their military spending in response to China’s assertiveness in the region.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by Bill Trott)

Singapore bans newspaper linked to Islamic State

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore on Friday banned the distribution and possession of Al Fatihin, a newspaper linked to the Islamic State militant group, after government officials repeatedly warned against terror threats.

The wealthy city-state saw its first case of terrorism financing this month, with four Bangladeshi men jailed for terms ranging from two to five years for funding attacks in their South Asian homeland.

“The Singapore government has zero tolerance for terrorist propaganda and has therefore decided to prohibit Al Fatihin,” the Ministry of Communications and Information said in a statement.

Launched in the southern Philippines on June 20, the paper, whose name means “The Conqueror” in Arabic, is also distributed in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern Thailand, the Straits Times newspaper said this month.

“ISIS is a terrorist group which poses a serious threat to the security of Singapore,” the ministry added. “Al Fatihin is yet another step by ISIS to spread its propaganda abroad, with a clear intention to radicalize and recruit Southeast Asians.”

The newspaper is published in the Indonesian language, which is very close to Malay, Yaacob Ibrahim, Singapore’s minister in charge of Muslim affairs, said in the statement.

Anyone convicted of possessing or distributing the newspaper faced a fine or imprisonment, or both, the statement added.

The fine can range up to S$10,000 ($7,380), and the jail term up to three years for a first offense, rising to four years for subsequent offences, the Straits Times newspaper said.

Al Fatihin is mainly distributed online, said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“I have not seen a printed version in Singapore,” Gunaratna told Reuters this month. “It is primarily directed at Indonesia and Malaysia. The number of potential supporters and sympathizers in Singapore is very small – insignificant.”

(Reporting by Masayuki Kitano and Marius Zaharia; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)