S'pore yet to contain virus

S'pore yet to contain virus

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore doctors were treating more than 60 new cases of a lethal hand, foot and mouth virus a day, health authorities revealed Thursday, as they admitted the outbreak had not yet been contained.

The chairman of a special government task force, Wang Nan Chee, said they would need at least another week before they could say if the situation was under control.

Singapore child care centers and kindergartens reopened on Monday after a two-week forced closure in which more than 2,000 children were stricken with the disease and four died.

There were another three deaths in neighboring Malaysia from the virus which mostly affects children under 10 years of age.

Wang said the number of reported cases of hand, foot and mouth disease had dropped from a daily peak of around 200 in early October to an average 61 a day over the past seven days.