Over concerns of a new COVID-19 strain found in Singapore, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday has urged the Centre to cancel all flights from the Asian nation, which might bring the third wave in India and is likely to affect children.
Kejriwal has urged the centre to immediately halt all air services from Singapore and appealed to work out vaccine options for children on a priority basis as the third wave is considered to be more dangerous for children.
Taking to Twitter, Kejriwal said, "The new form of Corona that came to Singapore is being said to be extremely dangerous for children, in India it may come as a third wave. My appeal to the central government is air services with Singapore to be cancelled with immediate effect and prioritise the options for vaccinating children at the earliest.”
Singapore recently announced that it will close schools from Wednesday as authorities cautioned that new Covid strains like the one first detected in India were affecting more children in the city-state. Following the recent increase in local transmissions after months of reporting zero cases, the Singapore government is implementing strict curbs.
These curbs were announced on May 14 and will remain in effect for one month until June 13. The country added 38 new local cases on Sunday, 18 of which are currently unlinked to known clusters.
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Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, repeating a conversation he had with the ministry's director of medical services Kenneth Mak, told a news conference on Sunday that the B.1.617 strain which was 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.
He added, "This is an area of concern for all of us,” adding however that none of the children who had been infected was seriously ill.
Chan in a Facebook post said that the government is planning to vaccinate children under the age of 16.
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Limited public gatherings to two, banned restaurant dine-ins and closed gyms in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus has been imposed in Singapore. Officials have also halted non-passengers from entering the airport terminal and blocked an adjacent mall as around 9,000 workers undergo testing.