SINGAPORE, May 17 — The new B1617 strain, commonly known as the double-mutant variant of the coronavirus first detected in India, appears to be affecting younger children more. This is why schools here are taking a more cautious approach this time around, the Government’s Covid-19 task force said.

Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said in an evening press conference on Sunday (May 16): "We know that there are many new strains of the Covid-19 virus — there are various new mutations and some of these mutations are much more virulent and they seem to attack younger children.

"So it is an area of concern for us, and the way we manage the situation must (be to) constantly keep abreast of such developments and pre-empt them where possible.”

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, who co-chairs the task force, said: "The behaviour of the virus has not changed since last year, (in terms of just needing) one superspreading incident to spread to many.

"This strain is no different, but it is true that there has been literature showing that (the B1617 strain) is more virulent. Fundamentally, you’re looking at a very contagious virus.”

On Sunday, the task force announced that all primary and secondary schools, junior colleges and Millennia Institute are to shift to full home-based learning from May 19 until the end of their term on May 28.

Less than a day before this, Ministry of Education (MOE) had moved seven primary schools to full home-based learning until May 28 following the detection of new cases among their pupils, which are linked to the infections in tuition centres.

The latest move was done in response to a rapidly growing number of community cases and cases with no known sources of infection, including among students and in private tuition centres. There were 38 community cases detected as of noon on Sunday, 18 of which had no links to past cases.

Ong said that part of the reason for the high numbers on Sunday is because the authorities have been "coupling” the outcomes from antigen rapid tests — which are less accurate but can be done quicker — to the daily count of confirmed cases.

More of such rapid testing kits will be distributed to public health preparedness clinics soon.

Ong also clarified that the cases detected by antigen rapid testing will be tested with the more accurate polymerase chain reaction test for them to be included in the daily case counts.

Chan said that the authorities are watching these rising figures closely and he believes that these did not occur randomly.

"So, we want to make sure that while we are handling this situation, we have to significantly reduce our movement and interactions in the coming days,” he cautioned.

To this, Ong added that unlike last year’s measures, the emergence of the new viral strain meant that MOE has acted "very fast” to put schools in home-based learning mode and carry out testing of all staff members and students for the disease.

Chan stressed that there has been no "conclusive” evidence of transmission within the school setting so far, and all detected cases among pupils and students have been outside schools.

And even though the schools have been relatively successful in preventing further infections, transmission can still happen outside the classroom such as in tuition centres and enrichment classes, he said.

"As the nature of the virus continues to evolve, we must never make the wrong assumption that the characteristics remain unchanged for the different strains of the virus.”

Vaccination of young persons

Chan said that Singapore "must be prepared to live in a world where Covid-19 could be endemic”, which means finding new ways to cope so that students can continue learning in a safe, physical environment as far as possible.

"The home-based (learning) option may not be a sustainable solution and we need different tools in our toolkits to manage the situation,” he said, adding that the Government will be able to implement more targeted home-based measures towards affected schools, rather than across the board for all schools.

This is provided that the community infection risks remain low.

Such a strategy to cope with an endemic virus will include vaccinating younger cohorts of people, including those under the age of 16, when the approvals are given for them to receive Covid-19 vaccines.

On top of this, the Government will need new testing methods in order to quickly "ring-fence” affected schools without having to close down all the schools or convert them to home-based learning, Chan said.

When asked when the approved vaccines may be deployed to younger people, he said that more information will be made available when his ministry has worked out the plans with the Ministry of Health.

Ong said that when vaccines were first developed, they had to be tested rigorously in their clinical trials. It was only after the first approvals that vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer-BioNTech began doing more clinical trials on younger groups, including children.

"So, it is not that the vaccine is unsafe for young children by no clinical trials. They did not test on enough children of that age group and, therefore, it is not approved internationally to be used on children.”

This has changed, and so MOH is working with MOE on youth vaccination because there is precedent elsewhere that the drug can be administered to those between 12 and 15 years old, he said.

Responding to a question on whether parents or students may opt out of attending school until the new rules kick in on Wednesday, Chan said: "The respective schools will be contacting parents to work out the plans accordingly”.

Ong, who was previously education minister until July last year, then added that schools are a safe place for the young.

"So, I know, principals, teachers, parents, students are all co-operating, and working really hard to make sure the schools’ protocols are (kept) really stringent, effective. And (they have) managed to keep schools safe throughout these 16 months. So, bear in mind that schools are a safe place,” he said. — TODAY