Posted 2:46 AM by Blah blah

Afraid of SARS? Just Stay Home and Have Sex!

Quarantined Singaporeans urged to multiply (The Guardian):

Singaporeans forced to stay home during the outbreak of the mystery illness that has now killed 82 people worldwide should use the time to shore up the country's falling birthrate, a sex therapist said yesterday.

About 1,000 people who may have been exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) have been ordered by the government to quarantine themselves at home.

"They should now use this opportunity to stay at home and massage each other," said Wei Siang Yu, a self-proclaimed sex expert who conducts seminars to help couples increase their fertility.

People should transform their bedrooms into "love nests" during the scare.

Singapore has a population of 4 million. Its birth rate sank to a 14-year low last year, when only 40,800 babies were born in the city-state, 3% fewer than in 2001.

The government has tried to encourage Singaporeans to have bigger families with tax breaks, cash bonuses and subsidised childcare. The state even has its own dating agency. [The Social Development Unit (SDU), or as some call it, "Single, Desperate, and Ugly."]