A Singaporean couple is offering to house pregnant women who live in Zika hotzones
UPDATE: Sept. 5, 2016, 12:12 p.m. SGT Updated with response from Leonie Francesca.
SINGAPORE -- A Singaporean couple has opened their home to pregnant women living in Zika hotzones who are afraid they might get infected by the virus.
In a Facebook post, Leonie Francesca said she and her husband, Justin Besson, are offering a room in their apartment to pregnant women keen to seek refuge from Zika-carrying mosquitos.
You May Also Like
The Bessons live on the 13th floor in Pasir Ris, east of the areas that have logged the highest incidence of the virus that has been linked to microcephaly, a birth defect that results in babies with smaller than average heads due to abnormal brain development.
Francesca is a teacher, and Besson is listed on his Facebook profile as a freelance motion graphic designer. The couple have an 11-month-old boy.
For now, no one has come forward yet to ask about the room, she told Mashable. "Maybe it's too far from the city?" she said.
She added that she hopes the community will rise up during this period, "instead of selfishly clearing repellent stocks they obviously won't use till next month -- or reselling it for marked up prices."
"I was just imagining what pregnant women feel right now, and I had this idea. We’ve an extra room, and I’ve never been bitten by a mosquito in my house. Someone might need a room somewhere, and we have that extra space," she said, according to the Today show.
Shelves wiped clean of mosquito repellent
On Sunday evening, the government confirmed another 27 new cases of Zika, the majority in the cluster around Aljunied Crescent, Sims Drive, Kallang Way, Paya Lebar.
This brings the total number right now in the tiny island state to 242.
The government noted that there was a potentially new cluster in the Joo Seng Road area, and a newly infected patient is not linked to existing clusters.
Shelves at multiple pharmacies here have been wiped clean of mosquito repellent, as stores rush to restock.
Topics Health
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
