Singapore to scrap all COVID-19 border measures from Feb 13
Singapore will scrap all COVID-19 border measures from next Monday (Feb 13), when the country steps down its disease alert to its lowest level.
This is due to the improving pandemic situation globally and the low impact of imported cases on Singapore's healthcare capacity, said the Ministry of Health on Thursday. The country will also remove almost all of its existing COVID-19 restrictions, such as requiring masks on public transportation.
Once the border measures are scrapped, all travellers, including those who are not vaccinated, will not have to show proof of a negative pre-departure test before entering Singapore. Non-vaccinated visitors will also no longer have to purchase COVID-19 travel insurance.
Singapore to host World Aquatics Championships in 2025
Singapore will host the World Aquatics Championships in 2025, making it the first Southeast Asian country to do so, the World Aquatics governing body announced on Thursday (Feb 9).
The World Aquatics Championships is a premier biennial event bringing together the six sports of swimming, water polo, diving, artistic swimming, open water swimming and high diving. More than 2,500 athletes representing 209 countries are expected to participate.
Singapore, Vietnam sign MOUs in areas like green-digital economic partnership and maritime cooperation
Singapore and Vietnam signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on areas like the green-digital economic partnership and maritime cooperation on Thursday (Feb 9).
The signings were witnessed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh who is on an official visit to Singapore from Feb 8 to Feb 10. Mr Lee also hosted official lunch for Mr Chinh.
A Lee Kuan Yew coin will be launched in Singapore this year to mark 100th anniversary of the former PM’s birth
The latest marker of that legacy is a commemorative coin that will mark the 100th anniversary of the former Prime Minister’s birth.
The coin is part of a slew of planned initiatives meant to pay tribute to Lee, Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng told Parliament today. He said that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will issue a commemorative coin later this year “as a reminder of Mr. Lee’s values and vision”.
Singapore explores regenerative therapy to restore impaired kidney function
Blocking an immune-regulating protein reverses the damage caused by acute and chronic kidney disease, a preclinical study suggests
In a world first, scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School, the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) and colleagues in Germany have shown that regenerative therapy to restore impaired kidney function may soon be a possibility. In a preclinical study, the team found that blocking a damaging and scar-regulating protein called interleukin-11 (IL-11) enables damaged kidney cells to regenerate, restoring impaired kidney function due to disease and acute injuries.