Bats flying into flats: Those commenting on post query Josephine Teo’s assurance

Singapore — Residents in Upper Boon Keng Road who had complained about bats flying into their homes were recently given the assurance by Jalan Besar GRC MP Josephine Teo that the creatures do not carry infectious strains of Covid-19.

However, those commenting on her Facebook post on Wednesday (Sept 9) have questioned her basis for giving such an assurance, while others joked that the residents should apologise to her for the “fake news”.

Mrs Teo, who is the Minister for Manpower, had addressed the concerns of residents who brought up the issue of bats flying into their homes. In the Facebook post, she had said: “Our residents were concerned about the possibility of bats being disease carriers and not knowing the proper way to ‘usher’ these ‘guests’ out of their homes.”

She then noted that she and her team got in touch with NParks, which is the statutory board that handles the enhancement and management of urban ecosystems. The agency then sent an officer as well as a bat research specialist to check on the issue.

“They assured our residents that these bats do not possess virulent strains of coronavirus and shared about the important ecological roles of bats as pollinators and in controlling insect populations,” wrote Mrs Teo.

However, despite her assurance, a number of people posed questions like, “How do you know? Did you catch a few and (run) tests to confirm?” and “How did she evaluate this?”

Others, however, left more playful comments, with one asking whether or not the bats apologised to her, while another went so far as to tease that “the residents should apologise to her for the fake news”.