Singapore foreign minister gets COVID-19 health risk warning

Singapore's Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan said on Tuesday he has received a COVID-19 health risk warning which is issued to those identified as close contacts of coronavirus-infected people or if they are a household member of a COVID-19 case.

Those who are given a health risk warning, based on app-based data, are legally required to self-isolate immediately and take an antigen rapid test within 24 hours. They can continue with their normal activities for the day if the test is negative, according to a Channel News Asia report.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday morning, the Indian-origin minister said he had tested negative for COVID-19 and will be observing the seven-day monitoring period. He was to attend the fifth Singapore-Indonesia Leaders' Retreat on Tuesday on Bintan island.

Balakrishnan said senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sim Ann would stand in for him at the retreat.

''In the meantime, I will follow Protocol 3 and do ART tests regularly for the next seven days,'' he said, referring to the Health Ministry's protocols for COVID-19.

''I have been doing regular ART tests before meetings and events for many months, so frequent testing is already part of my routine,'' he said.

Singapore's 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-long boat ride from Singapore.

Meanwhile, Singapore reported 3,002 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Monday, comprising 2,624 local and 378 imported infections.

There was no new fatality, according to the latest infection statistics on the Ministry of Home website. The death toll from coronavirus complications remains at 848.

As of Monday, Singapore has recorded 316,774 COVID-19 cases and 848 coronavirus-linked deaths since the start of the pandemic. There was no fatality report on Monday.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)