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SINGAPORE – Bats that have been flying into the homes of some residents in Block 14 of Upper Boon Keng Road do not have virulent strains of coronavirus, the Minister of Human Resources and Second Minister of Internal Affairs said on Thursday (10 September), Josephine Teo.
Ms Teo, a deputy for the Jalan Besar GRC where the block is located, said that some residents had alerted her to the bats, which live in nearby fruit trees.
Since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, people have been concerned about the presence of bats, a source of the coronavirus.
A scientist at the World Health Organization (WHO) said in May that Sars-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19, comes from a group of viruses that originate or spread in bats.
In February, The Straits Times reported that authorities here were receiving more bat-related reports than usual, and some people were concerned they might contract the coronavirus from the creatures.
At that time, a person reportedly dumped a live bat down a garbage dump.
Similar concerns appear to have existed among residents of Boon Keng.
Addressing this in a Facebook post, Ms Teo said: “Our residents were concerned that bats are carriers of disease and do not know the proper way to ‘get’ these ‘guests’ out of their homes” .
He added that his team contacted the National Parks Board (NParks), which arranged for an officer and a bat research specialist to visit affected residents.
They assured residents that bats do not possess virulent strains of coronavirus and shared about the important ecological roles of bats as pollinators and in controlling insect populations.
Ms Teo said officers also taught residents how to deter bats from entering their units through methods such as hanging shiny objects like CDs at entry points and installing magnetic fly screens or screens on windows.
The city council had also helped prune fruit trees growing nearby to encourage bats to make their homes away from residential units.
“I hope our residents are safer and have better ideas on how to avoid such untimely visits in the future,” he wrote.
He encouraged those encountering similar problems to call the NParks Animal Management Center at 1800-476-1600 for immediate assistance.
ST has contacted NParks for more information on bats.
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