Singapore prepares for protracted war against SARS
( 2003-05-16 15:39 ) (8)

Singaporeans have been again warned that the fight against SARS is a long haul after their country's hope for being declared SARS-free by May 18 was dashed on Tuesday with news of possible new SARS cluster of fever patients at its main mental hospital.

There have been no new SARS cases reported in Singapore since April 27. And if there are no new SARS cases by May 18, the city state will be officially taken off the World Health Organization (WHO) list of countries affected by SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).

Over the past two and a half months, a total of 205 SARS cases including 28 SARS deaths were reported in the country and only 19 SARS patients now remain hospitalized.

Singaporeans have been living in "bad weather," as Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong described, since the first three cases were diagnosed with SARS on March 1.

The government made an announcement on SARS on March 15 to put the whole nation on alert. It then mobilized all its machinery to fight in the public health, economy and society battlefields in response to the SARS outbreak.

A strategy was adopted to "early detect, isolate and contain" SARS transmission and precautions were taken to protect healthy people and health care staff who attend SARS patients.

The government formed a ministerial committee and a ministerialcombat unit respectively mandated to coordinate all ministries anddepartments involved in the anti-SARS fight and to contain SARS infection in hospitals.

Obtaining the power to take any measures needed through amending the Infectious Disease Act, the government closed kindergartens, primary and secondary schools for 13 to 20 days, shut the country's largest vegetable wholesale center for 15 days and imposed doubled fine and jail term to punish quarantine brokers.

In the battle with SARS, the government manipulates two weapons-- temperature detection and contract tracing which enable the health authority to screen those who have fever and isolate the infected.

Temperature taking has been conducted at various public places to screen infectious SARS patients while contract tracing resultedin successively imposition of home quarantine for some 5,000 people and successfully breaking the SARS chain of transmission.

Singapore has been lucky to have no significant community SARS spread up to now, but it fought bitterly to control rapidly unfolding infections in hospitals where over 85 percent of the total SARS infection in Singapore occurred and close to 90 health care staff got infected.

Cluster of infection has been another headache to Singapore as the clusters of infection at the Singapore General Hospital and atPasir Pajang Wholesale Center infected dozens of people and affected more than 1,000 people due to failure in early identification of SARS cases.

SARS, coupled with the US-led war in Iraq, has really turned out to be the full-blown unexpected shock to Singaporeans, instilling fears and seriously disrupting the economy.

Because of SARS, Singapore's economic growth forecast has been revised down to 0.5 to 2.5 percent from 2-5 percent earlier and the overall unemployment rose to 4.5 percent in March from 4.2 percent in December last year

The tourism and transport related industries, such as hotel, restaurant, retail, airlines, cruise, travel agent and taxi services have been severely hit with tourist arrivals contracting by more than 70 percent year-on-year, average hotel occupancy ratefalling to 20 percent from average 70 percent, retail sales declining nearly by half and the Singapore Airline's capacity cut by 31.8 percent with 358 weekly frequencies suspended.

Analysts warned that BARS-related growth shortfall could well be the tipping point that takes Singapore to the bank of another recession although its manufacturing sector has been little affected up now.

To battle the economic challenges, the Singapore government hasannounced a relief package worth 230 million Singapore dollars (about 129 million US dollars) and a home quarantine allowance scheme to help alleviate the immediate problems facing the affected companies and individuals serving quarantine.

Singapore takes the society battlefront as the most critical battlefront in combating SARS, stressing that "if we lose this front, we will lose all the other fronts, and lose the war."

The government has repeatedly urged every Singaporean to conquer fear of SARS, to support the public health measures, to follow the daily precautions recommended, to abide by the HQOs, totake their personal social responsibility, play his part in the national campaign against SARS and live a normal life with SARS.

Singapore leaders pointed out that public education, preventionand social responsibility are the key to reducing SARS transmission and has warned that there is no finishing point for anti-SARS fight and it is too early to break out the champagne.