The United States’ Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has classified Singapore’s Travel Health Notice to “Level 4: Very High Level of Covid-19”, on 31 January.
The US also advised their people not to travel to Singapore, as Singapore joins other countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, the Philippines and Paraguay in the list, according to Reuters.
The US CDC classified close to 130 countries to Level 4, citing a country’s incidence rate as one of their indicators.
Previously classified as “unknown”
Singapore was previously classified as “unknown” on 4 January earlier this year, with their previous advisory suggesting against travel to Singapore.
Singapore’s Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung then responded on 5 January by saying “To be clear, we know our situation very well,” and added that the Ministry of Health will provide the necessary data to the US CDC and that they were in communication with the US embassy.
The US CDC then said on 6 January that they will update their Travel Health Notice for Singapore accordingly.
Protocol 2
Ong announced on 21 January that Singapore would record a higher number of infections after the authorities decided to include Protocol 2 cases in their updates.
Infected persons who are either well or assessed to have a mild condition are referred to Protocol 2, where they can self-isolate at home.
The numbers for Protocol 2 were previously not included in the daily case numbers.