In the last one week (26 April – 2 May), Singapore recorded a total of 212 COVID-cases, of which 71 infections involved those who arrived directly from India. This translates to 33.5 percent of the country’s cases for the past week.
On 2 May (Sunday) alone, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that there were 25 imported cases of COVID-19. They have all been placed on Stay-Home Notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.
Of the 25 imported cases, 12 were those who flew directly from India:
- Singapore Citizen – 2
- Permanent Resident – 8
- Work Pass Holder – 2
However, five were Indian nationals who flew from Nepal:
- Dependant’s Pass Holder – 4
- Work Pass Holder – 1
This means that the total number of travellers linked to India arriving in Singapore on a single day is 17 out of 25 infected cases.
In fact, a total of 96 of out 212 positive cases in the country in the last one week involved Indian nationals arriving from different countries such as Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and India, of course.
No pre-departure PCR test needed
Presently, not all travellers arriving in Singapore need to take a pre-departure Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test in the country they travelled from (‘ICA officer infects 7 family members with COVID-19; No pre-departure test needed for SC/PR‘).
According to ICA website, no approvals or inbound pre-departure COVID-19 PCR Test is required for entry into Singapore for Singapore citizen and PR.
“There is also no need for returning SC/PRs to take an inbound PCR test within 72 hours before arrival in Singapore,” ICA said.
Indeed, a PR recently arrived from India confirmed this. He said he did not need to take any pre-departure PCR Test for COVID-19, before arriving in Singapore through Air India.
India announced on 1 May (Saturday) that there had been more than 400,000 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours for the first time, the first country to do so in the pandemic.
According to India’s health ministry yesterday, it confirmed 392,488 new cases and 3,689 fatalities, taking the total to 19,557,457 cases (3,349,644 active cases) and 215,542 fatalities.
Many experts suspect that because of insufficient testing and inaccurate recording of cause of death, the real numbers are much higher.
Given the high incidence of COVID-19 cases in India driving more Singapore citizens and PRs back to Singapore to take shelter, it’s not known why the Ministry of Health, soon to be headed by Ong Ye Kung, did not want Singapore citizens and PRs to take pre-departure COVID-19 test before they leave India.
