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Covid-19: Clarify confusion on incubation period, rationale for returning M’sian workers’ 7-day stay-home notice

It was bewildering to read that visitors coming to Singapore from Malaysia under the periodic commuting arrangement need only serve a stay-home notice of at least seven days (“Govt unveils details of cross-border travel with Malaysia; maximum 14-day stay for essential business travellers”; Aug 1).

The Causeway linking Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor.

The Causeway linking Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor.

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Nicholas Lim Chye Khiang

It was bewildering to read that visitors coming to Singapore from Malaysia under the periodic commuting arrangement need only serve a stay-home notice of at least seven days (“Govt unveils details of cross-border travel with Malaysia; maximum 14-day stay for essential business travellers”; Aug 1).

The typical stay-home notice lasts 14 days.  

Singapore researchers previously said that Covid-19 patients are no longer contagious from Day 11 of the illness. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has also said that the coronavirus has an average incubation period of five or six days, but this can stretch up to 14 days.

The figures for when a person is potentially contagious seem to keep changing.  

Can MOH clarify the incubation period once and for all, since there are implications for opening our borders?

If a period of seven days is indeed safe and takes into account picking up asymptomatic patients, why do travellers from other countries have to serve a stay-home notice of 14 days?

It is strange that people from countries with which Singapore has reciprocal fast-lane arrangements are considered to be of lower risk. The period of incubation applies to all who have the coronavirus, regardless of which country they contracted it from.

Have views on this issue or a news topic you care about? Send your letter to voices [at] mediacorp.com.sg with your full name, address and phone number.

Related topics

Malaysia cross-border travel Covid-19 coronavirus

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