Singapore is racing to figure out how to counter a growing COVID-19 cluster around karaoke lounges, where the sort of close contact and discretion essential to their normal operations complicates efforts to contain these cases and prevent spread of the virus.
Investigations are ongoing against the operators of three establishments for breach of safe management measures, the Singapore Police Force said in a statement. Police have arrested 20 women suspected of involvement in
vice-related activities at the lounges. Another four establishments, currently operating as food and beverage outlets, have been identified as having ongoing transmission of the virus and are being closed for two weeks for deep cleaning, the Singaporean Ministry of Health said.
Photo: Reuters
The probes and arrests came as the health ministry reported on Wednesday 56 new COVID-19 infections, the highest daily total since April last year, with 41 belonging to the lounge cluster.
Singapore does not plan to reverse its recent easing of social gathering restrictions, as it did after prior cluster outbreaks, as there is a high level of vaccination, Singaporean Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung told reporters on Wednesday. Data show that more than 70 percent of Singapore’s population has now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, one of the highest rates in Asia, with free vaccine appointments available island-wide to those 12 years of age or older.
“We are in a much more resilient position than before,” Ong said. “For now, we will keep the rules that have come into effect since Monday, and so there will not be any reversal.”
He added that people should exercise restraint and caution, only meeting others if they must, while sticking to interacting with family members and close friends. The country this week relaxed dine-in group sizes to up to five people, from two previously.
Experts expect the case count to grow, the Straits Times said, in part because lounge patrons might be reluctant to come forward and admit that they were at the establishments, while hostesses are also unlikely to disclose who they have been in contact with.
The police said they plan to step up enforcement against “vice and other illegal activities” in the city-state, as well as increase checks on similar lounge outlets.
Authorities said that “offenders will be dealt with firmly.”
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