Singapore's SARS prevention measures harsh - but welcome

If authorities in Singapore think you have been exposed to Sars, you will be ordered to stay at home, monitored with a camera and maybe tagged with an electronic wrist band.

You could also be fined or sent to prison if you break quarantine.

The measures are intrusive – in keeping with Singapore’s reputation as a tightly controlled society.

The government is even altering laws so quarantine offenders can be punished without needing to put them before a court first.

But people in the South-east Asian city-state say the crackdown on Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) is making them feel safer.

Stina Hotine, a Swedish expatriate on maternity leave with her five-month-old son, said she avoided crowded places when the outbreak began last month, and even put off a hospital visit for her son’s polio vaccine.

But now she is “out and about again”.

“I must say that Singapore is quite harsh,” she said. “But I am happy we are in Singapore and not in Hong Kong or China.”

Hong Kong and mainland China have been hardest hit by Sars, with more than 90 fatalities each, compared with 16 in Singapore.

China in particular has been criticised for covering up the extent of its Sars outbreak and not acting quickly enough to contain it.

By contrast, Singapore’s authoritarian government, noted for its efficiency, has been up front about it.

The Ministry of Health publishes daily updates on the growing number of Sars patients on its website.

“I think the very open and transparent approach this government has taken, that’s the approach to take. If you want to make sure people don’t get panicky, you overwhelm them with information,” said David Andresen, public affairs officer with the US embassy in Singapore.

Singapore’s first Sars patient was admitted to hospital a little over six weeks ago. Since then 184 people have come down with the illness.

Most infections have been contracted within hospitals, although a recent outbreak at the city-state’s largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market has raised fears that it could spread through the community. The 2,400 people working there are to be quarantined.

John Lim, secretary of the market’s labour association, said the quarantine would be “a financial disaster for each and every one” of the workers – but conceded it was “necessary to stop the spread of Sars”.

Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Saturday that the outbreak of Sars could be “the worst crisis our country has faced,” and estimated it will cost the city-state £530 million this year.

“This crisis is not just a crisis of Sars, it is also a crisis of fear,” Goh said.

As part of its prevention efforts, Singapore is screening all arrivals from Sars-stricken areas at the airport with fever-detecting infrared cameras.

At its border with Malaysia, trucks delivering fruit and vegetables have been turned away fearing drivers may have been exposed to Sars.

Cameras are monitoring the homes of Singaporeans under quarantine orders, who risk being slapped with electronic wrist tags if they stray outside or even just fail to answer a phone call from the authorities.

Goh today appealed to Singaporeans to adhere to the rules, saying they “may be harsh, but they are necessary”.

“We simply cannot afford to have those on home quarantine breach it,” he said in an open letter published in newspapers.