Singapore’s outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus has spread to its financial center, with some staff at major companies being told to work from home for at least the next few days and temperature screening checkpoints set up at the front doors of several towers.
A worker at an unnamed firm in Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1 was confirmed as being infected with the virus over the weekend, a circular sent to tenants by the building’s manager Raffles Quay Asset Management Pte said.
Another case at nearby Clifford Centre, in the heart of the central business district, is an employee of United Industrial Corp, according to an advisory to tenants in the building where the firm is located.
Photo: Bloomberg
The affected premises in both buildings have been disinfected and all tenants informed, the property managers said in the notices dated Sunday last week.
Singapore last week raised its disease response level to the same grade used during the SARS epidemic, as it braced for what Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said was a “major test for our nation.”
There are 43 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Singapore — the largest number of infections outside China, excluding a quarantined cruise ship in Japan.
Of the total, 22 cases are locally transmitted infections, the Singaporean Ministry of Health said.
Six people have recovered and been discharged from hospital, while six are in a critical condition.
Singapore has cautioned residents to avoid shaking hands to contain the spread of the virus. Panic buying had sparked a run on toilet paper, rice and instant noodles in stores.
Government officials warned against hoarding supplies, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore told banks to be prepared for for an increased demand in cash withdrawals.
Standard Chartered PLC is the anchor tenant at Tower 1, leasing the lion’s share of the 33-story building.
The British bank declined to comment on whether the virus case comes from among its employees.
“We have a well-established business continuity plan and implemented a comprehensive set of precautionary measures such as temperature screening, mandatory employee and visitor declarations, and increased the frequency of sanitization at our branches and office premises,” the bank said in an e-mailed reply to queries.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese