Singapore closes schools to fight Indian coronavirus variant outbreak

Singapore has closed its schools for at least two weeks amid a sharp rise in community transmission of COVID-19.

Singapore Education Minister Chan Chun Sing. Picture: AFP

Singapore has closed its schools for at least two weeks amid a sharp rise in community transmission of COVID-19 and fears that a ­voracious new variant first discovered in India is more dangerous to younger children.

The city-state’s Education Minister, Chan Chun Sing, said the decision was necessary because of the detection of more dangerous viral variants in recent weeks, including among several primary school students who had tested positive.

“Some of these (virus) mutations are much more virulent, and they seem to attack the younger children,” Mr Chan said in a Sunday press conference, though added none of the children who had contracted the virus were seriously ill.

Singapore recorded its highest daily total of new cases since mid-September on Sunday when it confirmed 38 locally transmitted infections, including four children linked to a tuition centre cluster.

While schools in neighbouring Indonesia have been closed for more than a year, the Singapore government has been committed to keeping children on campus since it ended a prolonged lockdown last year.

But Singapore’s infection numbers, while still low by regional standards, have risen sharply in recent months from just nine new cases in March, to 55 in April and 193 midway through May. It has reported more than 61,000 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Many of the new cases have tested positive for the B. 1.617 variant, which appears to be more ­infectious and behaves differently from previous strains seen in Singapore.

Mr Chan said the government hoped to begin vaccinating children under 16 as soon as approval was granted from the manufacturer. Singapore has fully vaccinated 22 per cent of its 5.9 million population and is considering moving to the UK model, by extending the time between the first and second jabs in order to vaccinate as many as possible.