New variant affecting more children pushes Singapore to shut schools

Singapore has announced the closure of schools from Wednesday as the country receives a new coronavirus variant similar to India which is affecting more children.

Taiwan also shut schools in the capital Taipei to curb the outbreak, while the island barred all foreigners from entry or transit for a month unless except the ones that have the residency card.

The governments of both countries have tightened restrictions to deal with the new strain of virus after remaining unaffected during the peak of the pandemic last year compared to the rest of the world.

Authorities in Singapore said Sunday that primary and secondary schools, as well as junior colleges, would shift to remote learning from Wednesday until the end of the school term on May 28.

The decision was made after Singapore confirmed 38 locally transmitted coronavirus cases, the highest count in eight months. This included children linked to the cluster at a tuition Centre. Later, 21 local transmissions were reported on Monday.

According to APP, 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.

Some parts of this news are taken from APP.