Singapore warns new virus strains infecting more children, shuts schools

SINGAPORE: Singapore will close schools from Wednesday as authorities warned new coronavirus strains such as the one first detected in India were affecting more children in the city-state.

The government has been tightening restrictions because of a recent rise in local transmissions, after months of near-zero cases.

Authorities said Sunday that primary and secondary schools as well as junior colleges would shift to full home-based learning from Wednesday until the end of the school term on May 28.

The announcement came after Singapore confirmed 38 locally transmitted coronavirus cases, the highest daily count in eight months. Some of the cases involved children linked to a cluster at a tuition centre.

An additional 21 local transmissions were reported Monday.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, citing a conversation he had with the ministry's director of medical services Kenneth Mak, said Sunday that the B.1.617 strain, first detected in India, "appears to affect children more".

"Some of these mutations are much more virulent and they seem to attack the younger children," Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said.

"This is an area of concern for all of us," he said, adding that none of the infected children was seriously ill.

The government is "working out the plans" to vaccinate students under the age of 16, Chan said in a Facebook post.

Singapore joined Taiwan in shutting down schools to stem the surge in infections.

Taiwan's capital Taipei and adjacent New Taipei City announced Monday that schools would suspend classes from Tuesday until May 28.

The island emerged relatively unscathed from the pandemic last year, but it announced a further 333 local cases Monday, bringing the total to just over 2,000.

In the latest round of restrictions, Singapore has limited public gatherings to two, banned restaurant dine-ins and closed gyms.

Last year, the coronavirus surged through crowded dormitories housing low-paid foreign workers, infecting tens of thousands.

But by global standards, Singapore's overall outbreak has been mild -- officials in the city of 5.7 million have reported more than 61,000 cases so far and 31 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

But the latest spike has hit a quarantine-free travel bubble with Hong Kong, which was due to begin May 26 after an earlier failed attempt.

A Hong Kong government spokesman said that "in view of the recent COVID-19 epidemic situation in Singapore", the two governments had decided to delay the bubble.