Singapore would shut schools on Wednesday after officials warned that new coronavirus strains, similar to the one discovered in India, were affecting more children in the city-state.
Following a recent increase in local transmissions after months of near-zero incidents, the government has tightened controls.
Authorities declared late Sunday at a virtual news conference that primary and secondary schools, as well as junior colleges, will transition to full home-based learning beginning Wednesday and lasting until the end of the school year on May 28.
Singapore reported 38 locally transmitted coronavirus cases just hours before the news conference on Sunday, the largest regular count in eight months. Any of the incidents included children who were part of a cluster at a tutoring centre.
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said at a press conference on Sunday that the B.1.617 strain “appears to influence children more,” referencing a talk he had with the ministry’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak.
The strain was discovered for the first time in India.
“Some of these mutants are even more virulent, and they seem to target younger children,” Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said at a press conference.
“This is an area of risk for all of us,” he said, noting that none of the affected children were critically sick.
In a Facebook post, Chan stated that the government is “working out the arrangements” to vaccinate students under the age of 16.
To combat the outbreak of diseases, the financial centre has joined Taiwan in closing schools.
Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, and neighbouring New Taipei City declared on Monday that schools will be closed from Tuesday to May 28.
Taiwan, which came out largely unscathed last year, reported 333 new local cases on Monday, taking the number to just over 2,000.
The increase in local transmissions in Singapore is likely to derail a quarantine-free travel bubble with Hong Kong, which was scheduled to begin on May 26 after an earlier failed attempt.
Singapore has reduced the number of public events to two, outlawed restaurant dine-ins, and closed gyms in an effort to stem the outbreak of infections.
Non-passengers have since been barred from visiting the airport terminal, and a nearby mall has been closed as about 9,000 employees undergo testing.
Last year, Singapore had to deal with serious coronavirus outbreaks that infected tens of thousands of low-wage foreign workers in cramped dormitories.
