India's Variant Of Coronavirus Threatens Children, Singapore Closes Schools

Illustration of a school in Singapore. (Wikimedia Commons/Terence Ong)

JAKARTA - Singapore authorities decided to close schools in the country starting this week, as well as implement a COVID-19 vaccination program for children, amid concerns over India's variant coronavirus.

According to Reuters On Monday, May 17, all primary, middle, and junior high schools will switch to full home-based learning from Wednesday until the end of the school semester on May 28.

The move comes as concerns grow over children being vulnerable to Indian variant infections. Thus, the Ministry of Education also chose to implement online schools.

"Some of these (viral) mutations are much more malignant and seem to attack younger children. The sharp increase in the number of community cases now requires us to significantly reduce our movement and interaction in the coming days", explained Singapore's Education Minister Chan Chun Sing.

"The sharp increase in the number of community cases now requires us to significantly reduce our movement and interaction in the coming days. (Nevertheless) none of the children who contracted the virus were seriously ill and some had mild symptoms", he added.

On Sunday, Singapore confirmed 38 locally transmitted cases of COVID-19, the highest daily number since mid-September, with 17 currently unlinked. The cases included four children connected to a cluster at the education center.

"Type B1617 (Indian variant) seems to affect children more", said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, citing The Ministry of Health's Medical Services Director Kenneth Mak. It was not clear how many children had contracted the virus.

Singapore reported more than 61.000 total cases of the virus, with most linked to last year's outbreak in foreign worker hostels and 31 deaths. Sunday's new cases are the highest number of local infections outside the hostel in a year.

Although Singapore's daily cases are still only a fraction of the number reported among its Southeast Asian neighbors, infections have increased in recent weeks. Starting Sunday, the government has imposed strict restrictions on public meetings and activities since last year's lockdown.

Please note, COVID-19 vaccination in Singapore is limited by the speed at which vaccine supplies are coming. Experts are studying whether to give one dose of the vaccine and extend the interval between injections, Ong said.

More than a fifth of the country's population has completed a two-dose vaccination regimen with vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Authorities will invite people under the age of 45 to receive injections starting in the second half of May.

"The government is also working on a plan to vaccinate children under 16 years of age after regulatory approval, which Pfizer is working on", Chan said.