Singapore ramps up mpox screenings at airports, border checkpoints amid global outbreak

Temperature and visual screening will start on Friday at the island nation’s Changi and Seletar airports, as well as sea checkpoints, for inbound travellers and crew arriving from places where there’s risk of mpox outbreaks, the Ministry of Health said in a statement. Travellers who have fever, rash or symptoms compatible with mpox will be referred for medical assessment, it said.

As of Thursday, “13 confirmed cases of mpox have been detected this year, all of which are of the less severe Clade II infections,” MOH said, adding that no Clade I cases have yet been detected in Singapore.

The patient who tested positive for clade Ib was a European male who arrived in Bangkok last week from Africa, according to the Department of Disease Control of Thailand’s health ministry. Authorities have identified 43 close contacts of the 66-year-old patient and put them under surveillance.

The patient with illnesses and symptoms associated with mpox was admitted to a hospital on August 15, a day after his arrival in Bangkok. Laboratory tests on Thursday confirmed the variant as clade Ib and Thailand will report the result to the World Health Organization, the ministry said in a statement.

Tourism-reliant Thailand said it will tighten surveillance and screening measures at all its international entry points including Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.

Travellers from 42 countries with mpox outbreaks will have to register themselves on the health ministry’s online application before leaving for Thailand and undergo health screening upon arrival according to global protocols, the ministry said.

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WHO declares mpox a global health emergency as new form of virus emerges

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