Singapore is the latest country in south-east Asia to suspend reopening efforts in an attempt to buy time against the more transmissible variant.
| Singapore will freeze ticket sales for flights and bus trips under its vaccinated travel lanes for entry from Thursday to January 20 as it tries to stem the importation of theThe move applies to all 24 countries, including Australia, with which Singapore has agreements for quarantine-free air travel, as well as overland bus services with Malaysia, the government said on Wednesday.
Omicron has fast become the dominant COVID-19 strain in many countries since it emerged about a month ago, accounting for more than 70 per cent of cases in the US alone.The variant has been found in Singapore, which has been opening its borders to select countries since October after abandoning a COVID-zero approach still pursued by the likes of China and Hong Kong.
The city-state detected its first local omicron cluster at a gym tied to three cases, the health ministry said earlier this week. The ministry’s latest release reported 280 new cases including 54 imports, but did not provide a breakdown on the variant.
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