MOH Responds to Bloomberg’s Article That Claims S’pore Separates Families Due to Omicron Variant

By
George Yang
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A day before Christmas Eve, Bloomberg published an editorial piece with the headline, “Singapore’s Travelers Face Omicron Chaos.”

For the uninitiated, an editorial isn’t exactly news, but more of an opinion based on news.

The editorial was written in response to the new measures announced by the authorities on 22 December, when it was reported that Singapore would suspend the sales of VTL tickets on the next day.

In the article, the author claimed that the latest move caused travellers to be “forced from their homes, ordered to share quarantine facilities with complete strangers, told to hand their unsupervised children off to authorities, and urged to abandon their pets.”

She even provided some unverified examples: a COVID-19 positive European national who had been self-isolating at home was allegedly being “whisked into a van without air conditioning” promptly after he was suspected of having the Omicron variant. His child was also told to be headed to a hospital alone or to an individual room, to which the wife refused, saying, “The thought that you’re in your home and you have to pack and leave? In this country? I don’t have the right to refuse to be hospitalized.”

Must be new to Singapore.

Another claimed to receive conflicting information about where to isolate, and while in the hospital, she was shuttled into a room without food, and when she requested for dinner, she was given three slices of bread and butter. Her husband was also tested positive, and their pets were then left unattended. The authorities allegedly told them to “find a solution” for the pets.

Suffice to say, these sound like stories from All Singapore Stuff but let me remind you again: these stories are related from a Bloomberg article.

And of course, with Bloomberg reaching not just Singapore readers but the global audience as well, the Ministry of Health has to respond.

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MOH Responds to Bloomberg’s Article That Claims S’pore Separates Families Due to Omicron Variant

According to MOH, they’ve done their checks and all children aged 12 years and below who were under quarantine or isolation have been accompanied by a caregiver.

They said that children will not be separated from their families, and those aged 12 years and below will stay with a caregiver, while those aged 13 to 19 years old are allowed to isolate alone only with the written consent of their caregivers.

They added that the current measures, including placing those infected and exposed to Omicron in recovery or quarantine facilities, were temporary so as to give Singapore time to learn more about the variant, and adapt and adjust its responses.

The said, “To optimise the use of our overall healthcare capacity, those who test positive for Covid-19 may be isolated in care facilities with another Covid-19-positive patient.”

These measure apply not just to travellers but to everyone, including Singapore residents.

“Indeed, over the past weeks, it has become clearer that this is a far more transmissible variant, and there are indications that it has a lower incidence of severe illnesses amongst infected individuals,” the ministry added.

“With greater clarity, we will in time converge the public health measures between Omicron and other Covid-19 variants. These include recovery at home and replacing quarantine with a self-testing regime, all of which are important steps in living with Covid-19.”

As for the pets…erm, that wasn’t responded to lah, so if you care for your cats or dogs, do take measures to protect yourself against COVID-19.

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]