Singapore cautious to declare virus downturn

SINGAPORE authorities said yesterday it was too early to say its outbreak of the deadly SARS virus had peaked, and braced the nation for higher unemployment as visitor arrivals plunged and a major regional airline fired staff.

Singapore, coping with the world’s fourth-highest number of infections of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, saw two new SARS cases yesterday, including the death of a 43-year-old taxi driver, after reporting no new cases in the previous two days. The World Health Organisation said on Monday Singapore’s SARS outbreak had peaked, but Health Minister Lim Hng Kiang said that view was premature given an average of three new cases a day in the island republic over the past 10 days and 23 deaths in total.

“Our basic tone must be to be extra careful, extra vigilant, and if anything, to err on the safe side,” Lim said.

But the financial toll of the virus was mounting. Visitor arrivals to Singapore plunged 71% in the third week of April from the year-earlier period after travel warnings against SARS-hit cities such as Singapore, Beijing and Toronto, the local Tourism Board said.

The slump forced regional airline SilkAir, owned by flag carrier Singapore Airlines Ltd, to lay off eight pilots, and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong braced citizens for more job losses, especially in hotels, shops and restaurants.

“We should prepare ourselves for higher levels of unemployment, as the full impact of SARS makes itself felt,” Goh said, drawing an analogy between the effects of SARS, terrorism and war in Iraq to a powerful storm.

“We cannot control this bad weather and we will just have to wait it out.”