VZCZCXRO3025
RR RUEHAST RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDH RUEHDT RUEHGH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA
RUEHNH RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHTM RUEHTRO RUEHVC
DE RUEHGP #0445/01 1331005
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131005Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6689
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 2225
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO 0104
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2311
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 4271
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 5976
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 1467
RUEHPH/CDC ATLANTA GA
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RHMCSUU/FAA NATIONAL HQ WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SINGAPORE 000445 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR OES/IHB 
HHS FOR OGHA 
EAP/MTS - MCOPPOLA 
NEW DELHI FOR JEHRENDREICH 
BANGKOK FOR REO HOWARD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU EAGR EAIR CASC ECON SN
 
SUBJECT:  SINGAPORE:  NO H1N1 CASES; NO MORE VISA REQUIREMENTS FOR 
MEXICAN CITIZENS 
 
REF:  SINGAPORE 420 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  There are no confirmed cases of H1N1 influenza in 
Singapore and the Ministry of Health (MOH) lowered its alert level 
from orange to yellow on May 11.  The GOS lifted its visa 
requirement for Mexican citizens on May 12, but seven-day quarantine 
requirements for people with recent travel to Mexico will continue. 
Thermal scanning and contact tracing at offices, schools and other 
public venues have eased, but screening will continue at all land, 
sea and air border checkpoints for the foreseeable future.  The MOH 
will review "lessons learned" from the heightened alert period to 
address gaps in Singapore's pandemic preparedness.  Health Minister 
KHAW Boon Wan has sought to calm fears about H1N1 by urging 
Singaporeans to focus on the severity of the disease and not the 
rate at which it is spreading, emphasizing that most infected people 
have recovered without hospitalization.  The Singapore economy has 
been especially hard-hit by the global economic downturn, making it 
difficult to assess whether the H1N1 outbreak and orange alert had 
any direct effect on travel and tourism.  The Embassy has sent an 
updated warden message on the lower alert level.  End Summary. 
 
Still No H1N1 Cases; Checkpoint Screening Continues 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2.  (U) There are still no confirmed cases of H1N1 Influenza A in 
Singapore.  To date, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has investigated 
34 suspected cases, and of those, 28 tested negative for Influenza A 
and six tested positive for typical seasonal flu.  MOH lowered its 
alert level from orange to yellow on May 11.  The GOS will continue 
to conduct thermal scanning of people arriving at all land, air and 
sea checkpoints (reftel), but scanning and contact tracing at 
offices, schools and other public venues have eased. 
 
Visa Requirements Lifted; Quarantines Remain 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) On May 12 Singapore lifted its visa requirement for 
Mexican citizens, but mandatory seven-day quarantines remain for 
travelers that visited Mexico within seven days of their arrival in 
Singapore (reftel).  Singapore instituted the visa requirement 
because Mexico was clearly the index country where most cases of 
H1N1 originated, Alvin Low, an MFA consular officer, told Econoff 
May 13.  Singapore does not have an embassy in Mexico, but 
applicants were able to file for visas with the Honorary 
Consul-General in Mexico, through their employers, or at a Singapore 
embassy near them.  Low said that several visa applications were 
filed and visas were issued to Mexicans.  There were no special 
health-reporting requirements added to application forms to 
specifically address H1N1, so it was not clear how the GOS linked 
the visa requirement to its pandemic response except to alert the 
GOS to the travel plans of a Mexican citizen.  Low did not know 
whether Singapore would implement visa requirements in future 
pandemic preparedness planning and response. 
 
MOH Reviewing Lessons Learned 
----------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) Health Minister KHAW Boon Wan said in a May 12 press 
conference that MOH would use the next several weeks to review 
"lessons learned" from the heightened alert period and address gaps 
in Singapore's pandemic preparedness planning.  Following the 
outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, 
Singapore focused on improving the response capabilities of 
hospitals, Khaw said.  However, the outbreak of H1N1 revealed that 
primary care and family physicians were ill-prepared to go to the 
orange alert level because they had not stocked enough essential 
supplies, such as masks and gowns (reftel).  Khaw encouraged 
physicians to stock up on personal protective equipment while 
Singapore remains at yellow alert.  Singapore plans in the next few 
 
SINGAPORE 00000445  002 OF 003 
 
 
months to send health experts and scientists to the United States, 
Mexico and Canada to review how H1N1 affected countries responded to 
the outbreak. 
 
Khaw:  No Need for Panic, but Be Prepared 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (U) Minister Khaw also used the press conference to try to calm 
fears about the H1N1 outbreak, emphasizing that most people infected 
with the virus recovered without hospitalization.  He encouraged 
Singaporeans to focus on the severity of H1N1, which in most cases 
appears to be no worse than seasonal flu, and not on the rate at 
which the disease is spreading.  Singapore cannot keep H1N1 outside 
its borders indefinitely, but MOH will use containment measures to 
mitigate the spread of the disease once a case is identified, Khaw 
stated.  For example, if a student is found to have contracted H1N1, 
that student, and perhaps very close contacts of the student, could 
be quarantined.  Other students and teachers would be screened for 
the disease, but MOH would not plan to close or quarantine the 
entire school.  Khaw encouraged the private sector to prepare for a 
pandemic by updating their business continuity plans. 
 
Potential Economic Impact of a Pandemic 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Although no cases of H1N1 flu have been discovered in 
Singapore, local economists have examined past economic shocks to 
calculate the potential costs should the flu become a full-blown 
pandemic.  A Standard Chartered report found that economic impacts 
in health crises of this nature are typically brief, with a quick 
downturn as discretionary spending is hit and confidence suffers, 
deterring travel and tourism.  Analysts for United Overseas Bank 
(UOB) said the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 
outbreak led to a seven-percent quarterly contraction in Singapore 
GDP as visitor arrivals fell by 64 percent and retail sales dropped 
35 percent at the height of the crisis.  There were at least two 
quarters of disruption in economic activities though the subsequent 
recovery was swift and no permanent damage was wrought on the 
overall health of the economies. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Nomura Bank constructed a composite index of economic 
indicators in 94 countries and concluded that Singapore and Hong 
Kong were the most exposed economies to an influenza pandemic (nine 
of the top twenty highly exposed were in Asia).  The early discovery 
and disclosure of H1N1 (unlike with SARS) and the relatively high 
level of preparedness suggest that economic damage from an H1N1 
pandemic would be relatively limited.  However, with the Singapore 
economy already suffering from the effects of the global financial 
crisis, any economic impact from an influenza pandemic would squeeze 
already constricted manufacturing and tourism sectors.  Recovery 
might not be as swift as in 2003. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) The economic downturn has clouded the effect the H1N1 
outbreak and the orange alert level have had on air traffic, Eileen 
Poh, a Director in the Regulatory and International Group at the 
Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS), told Econoff May 12. 
Arrivals appear to be steady, despite screening instituted at 
checkpoints.  There are no direct flights from Singapore to Mexico, 
so Poh did not anticipate a substantial drop in departures, though 
she acknowledged that many Singaporeans postponed or canceled travel 
to the United States.  With overall air carrier capacity down as a 
result of the economy, Poh said it would be difficult to determine 
whether traffic has slowed further as a result of H1N1 fears.  CAAS 
will not report May traffic numbers until late June. 
 
Updated Warden Message Sent 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (U) The Embassy has sent a new warden message updating the 
 
SINGAPORE 00000445  003 OF 003 
 
 
American community on Singapore's move from orange to yellow alert. 
 
 
SHIELDS