F

ollowing information that 56 Zika virus cases were discovered in Singapore over the weekend, the Health Ministry has stepped up measures to limit the spread of the disease, which has been linked with microcephaly, where babies are born with abnormally small heads and brains.

On Monday, the Health Ministry’s disease control director general, Muhammad Subuh said that immigration officials would start requiring people arriving in the country from Singapore to fill in health alert cards to ensure early detection of the virus.

“One of the most effective ways [to prevent the spread of the Zika virus] is to ask people to fill in health alert cards,” he told reporters in Jakarta.

Distributing health cards is deemed to be a more effective initiative because as the Zika virus’ incubation period is between seven to 10 days after an individual is bitten by an infected mosquito, symptoms of the disease usually go undetected by thermal scanners at airports.

Once they get the health card, people can fill in their names, aircraft numbers, seat numbers, destinations and other specific information and if in the next seven to 10 days they experience mild fever, skin rashes, headaches or joint paint — the symptoms of Zika — they are urged to report to a healthcare facility with their cards.

On Sunday, the Singapore Ministry of Health confirmed 41 locally transmitted cases of the virus. Most of them were construction workers who live or work in the Aljunied Crescent/Sims Drive area, according to The Straits Times.

Singapore Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said the number of cases was expected to increase. The country’s officials are reportedly intensifying efforts to eradicate any potential mosquito breeding sites.

Later on Monday, health authorities in Singapore confirmed 15 more cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infections.

The Zika virus spreads mostly through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. The virus is particularly dangerous for pregnant women as it is suspected of causing microcephaly, a birth defect in which babies are born with small heads. Microcephaly can also lead to developmental delays, difficulties with coordination and balance and intellectual disability. There is no specific medicine for Zika yet.

Earlier this year, the Health Ministry requested that people traveling from countries with Zika epidemics such as Brazil, Vietnam and Thailand fill out health alert cards. It claims that the initiative has been successful.

“The government’s efforts to prevent and control the virus are really dependent on the active role of the community,” Health Ministry official Subuh said.

Subuh said there was a high risk of a Zika outbreak in Indonesia because the country also had a high prevalence of dengue fever, a disease caused by Aedes Aegypti mosquitoes.

Since May this year, the health ministry has recorded 167 cases of dengue fever in the country and samples examined in the ministry’s National Institute of Health Research and Development (Badan Litbangkes) found that none of them tested positive for Zika.

Other senior health officials said the government would be able to contain the spread of Zika.

Health Surveillance and Quarantine director at the Health Ministry, Elizabeth Jane Soepardi said that Zika was not a new problem for the region.

“Zika has already existed in Singapore and Indonesia for a long time, it only came into the spotlight after the cases in Brazil,” she said.

In 1981, an Australian was diagnosed with the virus after traveling to Indonesia. The Eijkman Institute for Molecular Biology previously warned that Zika had been spreading for some time. Some of the 103 samples the institute took during an outbreak in Jambi between December 2014 and April 2015, tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi has been in contact with Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Ngurah Swajaya and Health Minister Nila Moeloek, as well as Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly who oversees immigration, about the Zika virus situation in the neighboring city-state.

The move is aimed at “getting more complete information” regarding the issue so that Indonesia can implement more effective preventative measures should the Zika virus cases in Singapore be confirmed, said Retno.

“So that we can increase our vigilance in terms of [people’s] mobility, since Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and other [countries] are now becoming more interconnected,” Retno said. (win)