SINGAPORE: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned that the level of COVID-19 in Singapore is “unknown” in a travel health notice updated on Tuesday (Jan 4).
“Because the current situation in Singapore is unknown, even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the CDC said.
It advised people to avoid travel to Singapore. “If you must travel to Singapore, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel,” it added.
The CDC uses COVID-19 data reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other official sources to make determinations about travel health notice levels, according to its website.
“If a destination does not provide data, their travel health notice level is designated as ‘unknown’ and travellers are advised to follow travel health notice Level 4 recommendations,” said the CDC.
Other countries that the US CDC has classified as having an “unknown” level of COVID-19 include Afghanistan, Cambodia, North Korea and Syria.
Bloomberg reported that the change in classification for Singapore was due to a lack of testing data that the CDC used to get from online data aggregator Our World in Data.
That information has not been updated since Nov 8, the CDC reportedly told Bloomberg.
In a statement to Bloomberg, the CDC said it evaluates primary criteria data including cumulative new case numbers and case trajectory information provided directly by health ministries to the WHO.
Secondary criteria data, such as tests conducted per capita and test-to-case ratio, is obtained from places like Our World in Data and health ministry websites, reported Bloomberg.
The data is measured over a 28-day period and reviewed daily, according to the Bloomberg report.
Singapore was previously in the highest risk category of the CDC’s travel health notice system. It was placed in Level 4, which indicates “a very high level of COVID-19”, on Oct 18 last year.
In the week leading up to the date of that reclassification, Singapore averaged about 3,071 new COVID-19 cases a day.
The country has averaged about 455 new cases a day in the week leading up to and including Jan 4.
CNA has sought comment from the Ministry of Health and US authorities.
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