Singapore’s foreign minister receives warning over COVID-19 health risks

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said on Tuesday he had received a COVID-19 health risk warning which is issued to people identified as close contacts of people infected with the coronavirus or if they are part of the household of a case of COVID-19.
Those who receive a health risk warning, based on app-based data, are legally required to self-isolate immediately and take a rapid antigen test within 24 hours. They can continue with their normal activities for the day if the test is negative, according to a report from Channel News Asia.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday morning, the Indian-born minister said he had tested negative for COVID-19 and would observe the seven-day monitoring period. He was due to attend the fifth Singapore-Indonesia leaders’ retreat on Bintan Island on Tuesday.
Balakrishnan said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann would replace him on retirement.
“In the meantime, I will follow Protocol 3 and do ART tests regularly for the next seven days,” he said, referring to the Ministry of Health protocols for COVID-19.
“I’ve been doing ART testing regularly before meetings and events for many months, so frequent testing is already part of my routine,” he said.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo are leading the high-level bilateral meeting, with their ministers, on the resort island, an hour by boat from Singapore.
Meanwhile, Singapore reported 3,002 new COVID-19 cases midday Monday, including 2,624 local infections and 378 imported infections.
There were no new deaths, according to the latest infection statistics on the Home Office website. The death toll from coronavirus complications remains at 848.
As of Monday, Singapore has recorded 316,774 COVID-19 cases and 848 coronavirus-related deaths since the start of the pandemic. No deaths were reported on Monday.
(This story has not been edited by the Devdiscourse team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)