Singapore will adopt stricter healthcare protocols over concerns of the Omicron variant, announced Health Minister Ong Ye Kung in the multi-ministry task force press conference on Nov. 30. While the city-state’s existing approach to handling the Delta variant is to “co-exist” with it, the new protocols are intended to “contain” the emerging Omicron variant, according to Ong. First detected in South Africa, the Omicron variant exhibits a large number of mutations and may cause a higher risk of reinfection. It was designated to be a “variant of concern” by The World Health Organization on Nov. 26. With the new measures, the Singapore government hopes to gain time to better understand the highly mutated variant. Stricter Border Controls Stricter border controls will be imposed under the new measures. Travelers entering or transiting through Singapore after Dec. 2, 2021 must obtain a negative pre-departure test result and go through a COVID-19 Polymerase …