SINGAPORE – Singapore clinics Monday reported more Zika infections, bringing the suspected total to 50, as mosquito-fighting teams saturated the scene of the outbreak.

Inspectors from the National Environment Agency checking for mosquito-breeding sites visited homes in the eastern Aljunied Crescent district where 41 cases – mostly foreign workers at a condominium construction project – have been confirmed.

Nearly all have recovered but nine more suspected cases of Zika virus infection – both citizens and foreign workers – were reported Monday by two community clinics, local media said.

These cases were also in Aljunied.

“It’s quite frightening because I thought Zika is something happening on the other side of the world. But now it’s right here in my neighbourhood,” customer service manager Josephine Kwan, who lives in the affected suburb, told AFP.

Locally-transmitted Zika in Singapore

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The Straits Times, The New Paper

Zika causes only mild symptoms for most people, such as fever and a rash, and has been detected in 58 countries particularly Brazil.

But in pregnant women, it can cause microcephaly, a deformation in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and heads.

Singapore, despite the highest health care standards in Southeast Asia, is a densely populated tropical island with frequent rain. Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water that collects in construction sites, open space and homes.

It is also one of Asia’s cleanest cities but has a chronic problem with dengue fever, which is spread by the same Aedes mosquito that carries the Zika virus.

Singapore’s first reported case of Zika in May involved a man who had visited Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier in the year.

But all of the latest cases involved local transmission.

The Straits Times newspaper quoted local doctor Tan Thai Keng, whose surgery reported four of the latest cases, as saying more women were visiting the clinic as news of the outbreak spread.

They included a pregnant 32-year-old.

“She wanted to find out whether she had the virus in her blood or not. So we took her blood here and sent it to the lab at Tan Tock Seng,” he said, referring to the main national hospital for communicable diseases.

Neighbouring countries took steps to prevent the spread of the disease from Singapore.

Taiwan on Monday issued a travel advisory for Singapore, urging travellers to watch out for mosquito bites and cautioning pregnant women and those planning to conceive to postpone trips to all areas with Zika cases.

Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have also said health officers will closely monitor arrivals from Singapore, which was visited by 15 million people in 2015.

In Singapore, inspectors armed with insecticide spray cans on Monday visited high-rise public housing flats to check toilets and other areas for stagnant water.

Owners of homes found with such sites can be fined up to $5,000.

Contractors in protective gear carried out insecticide fogging in public places, pumping a mosquito-killing mist over large areas on the ground.

Of the 41 Zika cases confirmed Sunday by the government, 36 were foreigners working at a condominium construction site.

Work was halted at the site on Saturday after environment agency officers found that housekeeping was “unsatisfactory with potential breeding habitats” for mosquitoes.

The latest global outbreak of the disease began in Brazil in early 2015.

What is the Zika virus?

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Reuters, The Straits Times, The New Paper, NEA

SINGAPORE – The spike in the number of Internet love scams here, which nearly doubled compared to the same period last year, has the police concerned.

In a statement today (Aug 29), the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said revealed that there were 298 Internet love scam cases in the first half of this year. This is a 98.7 per cent increase from the 150 cases recorded in the first half of last year.

As much as $11.6 million have been lost to the scams in the first six months this year, Lianhe Wanbao reported. A 58-year-old woman reportedly lost $1.2 million.

The Chinese newspaper said that the woman got to know “Peter” on Facebook in January this year, and started an online relationship with him.

“Peter”, who claimed to be from Malaysia, told her that he wanted to invest US$5 million (S$680 million) in Singapore, but his funds were impounded in Malaysia. He urged the woman to transfer money into his account on numerous occasion.

“Peter” became uncontactable after the woman transferred a total of $1.2 million.

Hundreds of local men fell for sex scams and lost thousands

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The New Paper, Internet screengrabs, Lianhe Wanbao, Stomp

MHA said in the statement that crime in Singapore remains low, and total number of cases fell by 2.1 per cent in the first half of the year, compared to the same period last year. However, Internet-related scams are on the rise. “Cheating involving e-commerce” cases were up 13.4 per cent to 1,145 cases between January to June.

Wanbao said that a person claiming to be selling concert tickets on e-commerce platform Carousell disappeared after a buyer transferred $900 into her account.

The daily also cited a case where a 65-year-old woman was conned of $2.38 million in a “DHL” phone scam.

The woman had reportedly received a call claiming that 36 counterfeit credit cards had been found in a parcel with her name. She was instructed to transfer money into the account of the conman in order to “clear her name”.

See also: 11 scams that are happening in Singapore now

sinsh@sph.com.sg

Top 7 scams in Singapore and more

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www.scamalert.sg