(Bloomberg) -- Singapore will mandate a three-week quarantine at a designated facility if close contacts of patients infected with the new mpox strain are identified, as the city-state re-introduces Covid-era curbs in a bid to prevent local spread of the mutated virus.
The health ministry will begin contact-tracing once an infection with the more dangerous clade I mpox strain is confirmed, and the case’s close contacts will be placed in a designated government facility for 21 days, which is the incubation period observed in Africa, according to a statement Wednesday.
The city-state hasn’t yet detected the more lethal clade I strain that prompted the World Health Organization in mid-August to declare mpox a global public health emergency, and all 14 mpox cases found in Singapore so far this year were caused by the milder IIb variant.
Singapore is among a handful of countries in the Asia Pacific region that successfully stamped out local transmission of the coronavirus that caused Covid-19 with aggressive curbs including quarantine and relentless contact tracing. The intense response afforded the country a semblance of normalcy early in the pandemic, before the virus evolved to become more infectious, rendering such measures less effective.
To assure the public the mpox response won’t go as far, health minister Ong Ye Kung said the city-state shouldn’t resort to “draconian and very disruptive measures” like the ones imposed for Covid-19, broadcaster CNA reported. “No countries are doing that now,” he said.
“We think this is likely to be a troublesome virus that we can manage,” Ong said. “It will very unlikely lead to the kind of disruption that happened during Covid-19.”
Bavarian Nordic A/S’s Jynneos vaccine has been approved in Singapore for protection against mpox and smallpox. The government will offer it free to people at high risk of exposure, including health care workers and close contacts of confirmed cases, the ministry said.
Singapore has already started screening inbound travelers and crew arriving from places at risk of an outbreak. Mask-wearing isn’t recommended for people who are well, but the ministry will consider the measure if there is evidence of significant respiratory transmission.
(Updated throughout)
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