SINGAPORE: Another two new measles cases have been detected in Singapore, bringing the country’s total count in 2026 to 13 cases – the second highest annual count in the past six years despite it only being February.
The latest figures were published on Thursday (Feb 12) by the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) in the weekly infectious diseases bulletin. The two new cases detected between Feb 1 and Feb 7 represent a drop compared with the five cases detected the week before.
The total case count for 2026 stands at 13, surpassing the 11 cases in 2024. There were 27 cases in 2025 – the highest number since 2020. There were 152 measles cases in 2019 – a significant spike due to global outbreaks.
Singapore has enhanced precautionary measures since Feb 6 to prevent the spread of the measles virus within the community following the increase in cases here.
The moves include mandatory isolation of people with confirmed measles infection until they are no longer infectious. Contact tracing will also be conducted for all infected cases, and close contacts have to either be vaccinated or quarantined for up to 21 days.
CDA had said that of the 11 cases detected in January 2026, three cases were confirmed by laboratory testing to be infected by genetically linked virus strains, even though the cases had no known contact with one another. This suggests undetected local transmission in the community, which led CDA to start epidemiological investigations.
The measles virus is spread through air droplets and direct contact with nasal and throat secretions.
Symptoms of measles include fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat and rashes.
There is no specific treatment, and most people recover within two to three weeks. However, measles can lead to serious complications, including pneumonia and encephalitis – inflammation of the brain – especially in children below five years of age.
Completing two doses of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccination will confer up to 97 per cent immunity against measles. Vaccination is recommended at the ages of 12 months and 15 months for children.
Separately, CDA launched a tender on the government-wide procurement system GeBIZ on Jan 27 for a health surveillance service provider.
Under the maximum two-year contract, the provider could be activated by the agency any time.
Tender documents seen by The Straits Times stipulate that the provider has to put in place the necessary infrastructure, systems and resources to man and operate the contact centre, and to provide health surveillance services within 24 hours.
Its contact centre operations will need to scale up in phases, which includes possibly handling up to 10,000 inbound and outbound calls and/or SMS, WhatsApp or Telegram messages each day.
Ten companies responded to the tender, which closed on Feb 12, with bid prices ranging from about $188,000 to about $3.3 million.
CDA’s enhanced measures for the measles cases include subjecting those infected to home isolation until they are not infectious, unless they were hospitalised. Non-immune close contacts of the measles cases will be quarantined at home for up to 21 days.
The agency has said it will conduct random video-call checks on those on home isolation and home quarantine.
ST has reached out to CDA for an update on its epidemiological investigations, and whether the contact centre would cover measles-related operations, including the video-call checks.
No measles cases in childcare centres or pre-schools: CDA
In a separate statement issued on Feb 13, CDA refuted information circulating online that there was a measles case at a childcare centre.
CDA said that as at noon on Feb 12, there were no confirmed measles cases at childcare centres or pre-schools in Singapore.
The agency added that it had a few cases of suspected measles referred to it by doctors as a precaution, but all had tested negative for measles.
CDA urged members of the public to rely on official sources for health information, and not to speculate and spread unfounded rumours. - The Straits Times/ANN
