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By now many Singaporeans would be used to the common safe management practice of having to take their temperature before entering any building or premises.

Many businesses employ an automatic non-contact infrared thermometer to expedite the process.

Yet the exact way to use these devices seems to have caused some confusion over where exactly on the body should one's temperature be measured from.

A photo doing the rounds on social media appears to show one eatery presumably fed up with the ambiguity.

Stuck to the stand holding their infrared thermometer was a snarky sign written in Chinese.

"Please use your head for temperature taking. Please only use your hand to do so if you have no head."

Should you scan at the wrist or forehead?

So how exactly should these thermometers be used?

Over the Causeway, Malaysia's health authorities have urged businesses to only take temperature readings from the forehead.

According to The New Straits Times, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said on Aug. 6, that measuring from the forehead would return the "most accurate body temperature reading".

The practice of taking one's temperature at the wrist had apparently become popular in Malaysia due to concerns about infrared rays infiltrating the skull and affecting the brain.

"Although there are worries, but there are no scientific data that states that it will cause illness," said Noor.

However, a contradicting study — which has yet to be peer-reviewed — was published to online health sciences resource medRxiv.

In the study, researchers found that measuring temperature at the wrist was "more stable than forehead measurement under different circumstances".

Both wrist and forehead measurements were found to be accurate in indoor settings, though taking one's temperature from the wrist was better in outdoor settings.

Mothership has reached out to the Ministry of Health on this issue and will update the article when they respond.

Top image from Singapore Our Home and Anton via Unsplash

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