Singapore studies role of oral HCQ & throat spray in reducing COVID-19 spread
Singapore studies role of oral HCQ & throat spray in reducing COVID-19 spread 26 April 2021 | News Preventive regimen shown to be effective in reducing COVID-19 transmission in a
large-scale randomised controlled trial conducted among healthy migrant workers in
Singapore
Image credit- NUHS
A team of clinician-scientists from the National University Hospital (NUH); NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine); NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health; National University Cancer Institute, Singapore; and National University Heart Centre, Singapore has found that oral hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) and povidone-iodine throat spray were effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 infection in high transmission settings.
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All travellers from India should be isolated for 21 days instead of 14 to help strengthen Singapore s defences against a new double mutant strain of SARS-CoV-2 that appears to be more infectious, reported The Straits Times citing experts on Thursday. However, it is not yet necessary to ban flights from India, it said. A 14-day quarantine or SHN (stay home notice) would detect more than 98 per cent of COVID-19 cases, including those who were infected while on the plane, said Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, the vice-dean of global health at the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health. A 21-day quarantine backed by specific tests would detect virtually all cases. However, that would impose a significant mental and financial cost to the traveller, Yang said.
"A 21-day quarantine backed by specific tests would detect virtually all cases. However, that would impose a significant mental and financial cost" to the traveller, Yang said.
Called B1617, the new variant is the first to have two mutations E484Q and L452R, which have been seen in other variants.
It has not yet been classified as a variant of concern - a term used for other variants like the B117 that was first detected in the United Kingdom and found here - but it is proving to be worrying.
India now accounts for one in three new Covid-19 cases in the world. New cases there rose above 100,000 in early April, surpassing the previous peak in September last year. By April 19, in just two weeks, new cases had surged to more than 273,000 a day.