World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that he was "very impressed with the efforts" that Singapore has taken in response to the Covid-19 outbreak.

S'pore "leaving no stone unturned", says Tedros

"We are very impressed with the efforts they are making to find every case, follow up with contacts, and stop transmission," Tedros said at a media briefing on Feb. 18, 2020.

The WHO chief said that he spoke to Health Minister Gan Kim Yong regarding Singapore's response to the outbreak.

I spoke with Gan Kim Yong, Minister @sporeMOH, yesterday about the #COVID19 response. #Singapore is managing the imported cases with tremendous rigor. I thanked the Minister for 🇸🇬's leadership on preparedness. #coronavirus

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 18, 2020

"Singapore is leaving no stone unturned, testing every case of influenza-like illness and pneumonia," Tedros added.

"So far they have not found evidence of community transmission."

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1229797987888615425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%

Further precautionary measures in place by S'pore

From Monday (Feb. 18), 11:59pm, the Stay Home Notice (SHN), a stricter version of the Leave-Of-Absence (LOA) has been implemented.

This will apply to returning Singapore residents and long-term pass holders who has recent travel history to China, outside of Hubei, within the last 14 days.

Under the SHN, these returnees will have to remain in their place of residence at all times during the 14 days.

SHN is stricter than the existing LOA regime, which had allowed returnees to leave their homes briefly, for example for their meals or to buy household supplies.

Previously, work passes of four work pass holders were revoked by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) for breaching their LOA and were caught working at their workplaces.

They were repatriated within 24 hours and have been banned from working in Singapore permanently.

MOM has also suspended the work pass privileges of the employers involved for two years.

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Top image via WHO/Twitter, Gov.sg/YouTube