Following detection of a fresh case, Singapore has launched several emergency measures to contain a possible return of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.
Early this year, SARS had wrecked havoc on this urban paradise, killing 33 and wrecking its economy.
The SARS Outbreak: The Complete Coverage
As the Singaporean authorities confirmed on Tuesday that a 27-year-old researcher had been infected with SARS, the stock market plunged to a four-week low with airlines and tourism-related stocks being the worst hit.
The plain-speaking acting health minister, Khaw Boon Wan, said, "I don't think Singaporeans need to lose too much sleep over this. I myself have not lost too much sleep over this. But this doesn't mean that we are complacent."
Having learned some tough lessons from their delayed response to the earlier SARS outbreak, the authorities are this time overcautious, almost alarmist.
Twenty-five people who had come into contact with the SARS patient since August 26, when he developed fever, have been quarantined.
The patient, who had checked into the Singapore General Hospital after having fever, has now been shifted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Communicable Centre 2. Two wards of General Hospital where the patient had been are also under emergency measures. Visitors are not being allowed there and staff have been asked to wear masks.
Two laboratories-- National University of Singapore and Environmental Health Institute -- where the patient was doing research on West Nile virus have suspended work and investigations are on to see if he came into contact with the SARS virus at these labs.
The World Health Organisation, which had recently warned of a possible return of SARS, said it had no plans of issuing a travel warning, but added that it was disappointed.
The WHO spokesman for western Pacific was quoted as saying that they believe it was an "an isolated case".
Thousands who throng this shopping heaven also seem to believe that. The splendid shopping malls here are now beginning to see the return of crowds, a sizeable number of them from India.
"I am not scared," Shalu Mehta, a middle-aged woman from New Delhi, said as she went shopping with her husband in Mustafa's, the 24-hour mall that is a favourite among Indians. A sales manager at Mustafa's said, "People are back. We don't see any panic."
But there are some who are clearly concerned. Boon Haw, a 42-year-old taxi driver, said he was praying SARS would go away.
He drives a shared cab from the airport and has to pay Singapore dollars 120 per day to the cab company. "I was running on loss all through the SARS period and then Iraq war too hit tourism badly. I have just started making some money," he said.
Singapore's neighbours are concerned. Hong Kong, Thailand and others are putting in place screening for visitors from Singapore.
Several companies in Singapore have also initiated temperature check for their employees twice every day.
For the time being, the authorities are confident. Khaw Boon Wan was satisfied with the response till now: "I think, in many hospitals, in many other countries, this case may have been missed completely."