Oral Answer

Health Screenings for Those from Countries with High-risk of Nipah Virus, and Healthcare Advisories to Doctors and Public

12 February 2026 · Ministry of Health

Speakers

Koh Poh Koon (Senior Minister of State for Health and Manpower) Joan Pereira Gerald Giam Yean Song

Summary

This question concerns border health measures and advisories following Nipah virus outbreaks, with Ms Joan Pereira inquiring about health declarations for high-risk arrivals and information dissemination to doctors and the public. Senior Minister of State Koh Poh Koon responded that the Communicable Diseases Agency has issued clinical guidance, conducted webinars for doctors, and activated temperature screenings for ships from affected areas. He explained that the electronic Health Declaration Card now prompts symptomatic travellers to declare prior travel, including to West Bengal, with this data shared for contact tracing purposes. Additionally, the Ministry of Manpower has engaged migrant workers and employers on precautionary measures while authorities monitor the situation closely.

Transcript

1 Ms Joan Pereira asked the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health in view of the Nipah virus (NiV) high case fatality rate (CFR), whether the Ministry will (i) require health declarations and conduct screening of passengers arriving from or who have recently been in high-risk areas at our ports of entry and (ii) provide healthcare advisories and information to doctors and the public.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Koh Poh Koon) (for the Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) issued a press release on our responses to the Nipah virus infections in West Bengal, India, on 28 January 2026.

Since then, we have further issued clinical guidance to all medical practitioners, conducted an educational webinar for primary care doctors, adjusted the electronic Health Declaration Card for all incoming travellers and activated temperature screening for travellers arriving on ships from affected areas. The Ministry of Manpower has also disseminated CDA’s announcements on precautionary health measures to migrant workers and migrant domestic workers as well as to employers, dormitory operators and employment agencies.

CDA is monitoring the situation in India and globally closely, and will adjust our measures as needed based on the evolving risks that are developing.

Mr Speaker: Ms Pereira.

Ms Joan Pereira (Tanjong Pagar): Thank you, Speaker, and the Senior Minister of State. I seek two clarifications from the Senior Minister of State on border health measures that have been stepped up in view of the disease outbreaks overseas.

First, will these include updating the SG Arrival Card declarations required of arriving passengers in terms of prior travel destinations? I ask this because I checked the SG Arrival Card, and only Africa and Latin America are listed.

My second clarification is whether this information will be shared with the health authorities for further monitoring.

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Sir, I thank the Member for raising these questions, which many people are naturally concerned about. Indeed, the answer to her question is yes, we have enhanced the electronic health declaration card, which is part of the SG Arrival Card. In this format, if the arriving individual, clicks yes on the SG Arrival Card to any of the symptoms, then there will be a prompt to enter the previous travel destination, and that would include the West Bengal region as well. But if the person clicks no to any of the symptoms, then he would not be prompted for any travel destinations that we are monitoring. So, it is to make sure that there are no excessive compliance needs on the individual submitting the information card to make it seamless. At the same time, we do not want to end up having over-declaration for those with no symptoms. [Please refer to ​"Clarification by Senior Minister of State for Health", Official Report, 12 February 2026, Vol 96, Issue 17, Correction By Written Statement section.]

What is the second question?

Ms Joan Pereira: Whether information will be shared with the health authorities.

Dr Koh Poh Koon: Yes, for sure. Any of the information collected by the SG Arrival declaration card will indeed be piped into CDA so that we can perform any contact tracing if necessary.

Mr Speaker: Mr Giam.

Mr Gerald Giam Yean Song (Aljunied): I have filed similar questions and I will repeat them here. What is the progress of local research into Nipah virus diagnostic kits and vaccines and does Singapore currently possess or have any plans to develop bio-safety 4 laboratory capacity for vaccine testing. And what grants or subsidies are there for local firms to ensure that such research remains viable even though there is no commercial market.

Mr Speaker: My Giam, I think Senior Minister of State Dr Koh was only answering Question No 1. Yours is Question No 2. So, anyway, we will move to Question No 2.