Singapore starts screening incoming passengers for mpox symptoms

SINGAPORE: Temperature and visual screening will be carried out at Changi and Seletar airports from Friday onwards as a precautionary measure against mpox, after one confirmed case of a potentially more serious variant each was reported in Sweden and Thailand.

The Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Transport and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said they will enhance Singapore’s surveillance capabilities against the infectious disease at the borders.

Similar screening measures will also be implemented at sea checkpoints for crew and passengers arriving on ships from mpox-affected areas, reported The Straits Times.

The MOH said that while there are no direct flights between Singapore and any country with an mpox outbreak, there will be temperature and visual screening at Changi and Seletar airports for inbound travellers and crew arriving on flights from places that may be exposed to outbreak of the viral disease.

Health advisories have also been put in place at air checkpoints, so that travellers will take the necessary personal precautions to avoid being infected.

Travellers are strongly advised to follow the advisory, especially if they are travelling to and from affected countries. Those found to have fever, rash and/or symptoms compatible with Mpox will be referred for medical assessment.

The MOH said there are no mpox clade I cases detected in Singapore to date. But it is monitoring the global situation very closely and the outbreak remains generally confined to Africa, with two cases of the more severe mpox clade I reported in Sweden and Thailand. There are currently no reports of local spread in these two countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on August 14 declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years. As there were no reported cases of the more severe clade I exported out of the African continent, MOH said then that the immediate public health risk to Singapore was low.

Infectious disease experts also said then that there was no need for visitors from countries where mpox is circulating, or Singaporeans who are returning home, to quarantine themselves if they do not have any symptoms.

According to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been more than 27,000 cases and more than 1,300 deaths since January 2023 in the current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

A high proportion of cases have been reported in children younger than 15 years of age.

“We should be on alert. We should expect it to arrive in Singapore, and then when it does, respond appropriately and effectively,” the The Straits Times quoted Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung as saying.

The mpox outbreak in Africa and other places is expected to spread to the Middle East and Europe, which Singapore has flight connections to, said Ong.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in the eastern Congo, and many cases in several neighbouring countries are “very worrying”.