Kamala Harris took off from Paya Lebar Air Base at 7.32 pm on Tuesday after being delayed for over three hours
United States (US) Vice-President Kamala Harris has officially wrapped up the Singapore leg of her seven-day trip around Southeast Asia and was due to leave for Vietnam on Tuesday afternoon after she gave a speech. Unfortunately, her trip was delayed by just over three hours as a result of a “possible anomalous health incident”, according to Rachael Chen, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Hanoi.
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Today, @VP Kamala Harris met with Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob at the Istana. (1/5)
— U.S. Embassy Singapore (@RedWhiteBlueDot) August 23, 2021
All photos © AP Images pic.twitter.com/tzvx5UCAet
This is usually the way the government refers to the mysterious Havana syndrome of which not much is known.
What is it and what was it discovered?
The Havana syndrome is a medical condition that was first detected in US diplomats in Cuba at the US embassy in Havana back in 2016. After some studies, the US government released a report by the National Academies of Sciences saying that the illness was likely caused by directed microwave radiation.
Further studies showed that people who suffered from this syndrome showed brain abnormalities as the illness affected the brain’s ability to send messages. It also affects a person’s auditory and spatial functions.
What are the symptoms?
Typically, when affected, patients will experience pain in one or both ears. They will also feel pressure in their head, dizziness, tinnitus, visual problems, vertigo, and cognitive difficulties.
They could also experience nausea, fatigue, insomnia and sluggishness.
What causes it and can it be treated?
While a definite cause has yet to be established, a 2020 report by the National Academies of Sciences stated that it might be caused by “directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy” which is a type of radiation that can come from microwaves.
So far, over 200 people from countries such as Australia, Austria, Colombia, Russia and Uzbekistan have reported symptoms of the condition.
It is unclear what people can do to protect themselves from it and there has yet to be a treatment found though the syndrome is not fatal.
Despite the health incident, Harris and her team decided to go ahead with the trip and she has since arrived in Hanoi to continue with the second half of her trip considering that Harris herself was not unwell and that those travelling with her were not affected.
“This is not a confirmed case at this point in time. We take any reported incident, which was recent and was reported publicly, I will note, quite seriously. As a result, there was an assessment done of the safety of the vice president, and there was a decision made that she could continue travel along with her staff,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki during a White House press briefing on Tuesday afternoon.
Harris is expected to return to the US from Vietnam on Thursday.
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