COVID-19 II: 49 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore; Mustafa Centre among 3 new clusters identified (2 Apr)

[Xers007]

2 minutes ago, Civic2000 said:

Look at the 2 TABLES showing the increase  of COVID-19 cases in less than 24 hours apart .  While China reported no new cases of COVID-19 today *, the cases escalating in Europe and US seems to be out of control.   The total number of case in Italy within 1 month is more 35K plus , while total number of case in China over a period of 3 moths is 80K.   The deaths in Italy within a short period of one month is about to reach 3000, while the deaths of 3245 in China actually occurred over a period of 3 months.  Cases in Spain & Germany had exceeded 10K, while cases in US & France are about to reach 10K.

It’s high time for SG to ban all flights from Europe and US so as to stop the import cases of COVID_19 from these countries.

chinese culture more conservative seldom hug hug kiss kiss... maybe this is one of the diff

[Theoldjaffa]

14 hours ago, Jellandross said:

When frontline staff are risking their lives everyday, and you have clowns like these... Truly ccb. 

"We are more afraid of God," one of the organisers, Mustari Bahranuddin, told Reuters, when asked about the risk of participants spreading the virus at the event in Gowa in Indonesia's province of South Sulawesi.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-covid-19-muslim-pilgrims-gathering-12552630

I think their god wants them to get infected with coronavirus so that all can go paradise early 

[Theoldjaffa]

1 hour ago, Thaiyotakamli said:

So childish lol

 

What was the post about and who is it from?

it got removed before I could read it

[Jamesc]

30 minutes ago, Carbon82 said:

UK cancelled 'A' level exam liao... Will our kids in Singapore be affected in the coming months?! I hope not (my son is his taking 'A' level this year).

A Levels and GCSE exams will not take place in May and June as UK schools close due to coronavirus outbreak

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Wednesday that the Government would ensure pupils due to sit exams this summer would get the qualifications they need "in time".

Speaking during the daily Downing Street press conference, the PM said: “I don’t want to go into detail about when and how those qualifications will be administered, but it will be done fairly and in order to protect their interests.”

Mr Johnson said the Government would try to keep the duration of school closures to an “absolute minimum” and intended to “get things going again as fast as we can”.

His comments came after Education Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed in the Commons that exams will not take place in the current academic year after announcing that all UK schools will close as of Monday.

He added that the Government would not be publishing performance tables this year either. 

“We will work with the sector and Ofqual to ensure that children get the qualifications that they need," he said. 

“My department is working closely with local authorities, representatives of early years schools and headteachers, regional schools, commissioners and bodies such as Ofsted and Ofqual about how to deliver this change as effectively as possible.

“And we will do whatever is necessary to support local authorities, schools and teachers through the weeks and months ahead."

The Education Secretary also told the Commons that the Government would be making sure that every child "gets the proper recognition that they deserve and we will obviously update the House".

He said they are working closely with Ofqual to have a detailed set of measures that makes sure no child is unfairly penalised.

Mr Williamson went on to say said a “means of redress” will be put in place for GCSE and A-Level students to query their grades.

Labour’s Rupa Huq (Ealing Central and Acton) asked: “As mum of a year 11, are his exams now indefinitely postponed?

“And for all his cohort, can I ask, will their sixth form admission, because those aren’t automatic nowadays, now be based not on actual but on predicted grades in a kind of mystic meg kind of way?”

Mr Williams replied: “What I outlined is the fact that we will be ensuring that all children who have done so much working towards their exams, both in GCSE and A-Level, will get a fair system in terms of their grades.

“We do recognise that there will be sometimes disagreement over that, so making sure that we have a proper and robust system and means of redress for those children is absolutely vital.

“And that is something that we’re going to have in place with Ofqual, and we’ve already had those discussions.”

In a statement, England’s exams regulator Ofqual, said: “We welcome the certainty that the Secretary of State’s decision not to hold exams this summer provides in these challenging circumstances.

“We will now work urgently with the Department for Education to work through the detail of this decision and to provide more information as soon as possible.”

Clare Marchant, Ucas chief executive, said: “We will be working through the implications of today’s announcements for students, teachers, universities and colleges over the coming days, which was one of the scenarios we were planning for.

“Flexibility within the admission process will be enhanced and extended to deal with the coronavirus outbreak and the announcement that there will be no exams this year.

“We are confident that our team and systems are ready to adapt throughout the spring and summer.

“We will continue to work closely with colleagues across the education sector including Ofqual, the Department for Education, the Scottish government, Office for Students and Universities UK.

“As soon as any changes are confirmed, students will be emailed to explain how this might affect them, so it’s important they keep their email address up to date in Track.

“We will also communicate further and extend support to all of customers during these challenging times.”

The shock announcement came after the PM had said on several occasions this week that he was very reluctant to close schools. 

The PM said that schools would now close as a way of trying to flatten the upwards curve of new Covid-19 cases in the UK as the situation continues to evolve. 

It followed Monday's announcement where he introduced new measures to tackle the coronavirus outbreak, including urging the public to avoid all non-essential social contact.

The Government also advised that all over-70s self-isolate at home and people should avoid venues like pubs, theatres and restaurants. 

All the kids never prepare must be very happy. 

[Mockngbrd]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/world/asia/coronavirus-singapore-hong-kong-taiwan.html

SINGAPORE — Two hours. That’s all the time medical teams in Singapore are given to uncover the first details of how patients contracted the coronavirus and which people they might infect.

Did they travel abroad? Do they have a link to one of the five clusters of contagion identified across the city-state? Did they cough on someone in the street? Who are their friends and family, their drinking buddies and partners in prayer?

As Western nations struggle with the wildfire spread of the coronavirus, Singapore’s strategy, of moving rapidly to track down and test suspected cases, provides a model for keeping the epidemic at bay, even if it can’t completely stamp out infections.

[Read: Will the Olympics go on? Japan’s businesses would like to know.]

With detailed detective work, the government’s contact tracers found, among others, a group of avid singers who warbled and expelled respiratory droplets together, spreading the virus to their families and then to a gym and a church — forming the largest concentration of cases in Singapore.

“We want to stay one or two steps ahead of the virus,” said Vernon Lee, the director of the communicable diseases division at Singapore’s Ministry of Health. “If you chase the virus, you will always be behind the curve.”

Singapore, along with Taiwan and Hong Kong, offers successful approaches, at least so far, in battling a pandemic that has infected more than 182,000 people and killed at least 7,300 worldwide. Despite being hit months ago by the virus, these three Asian societies have recorded only a handful of deaths and relatively few cases, although they continue to face risks as people from emerging hot spots in the United States, Europe and elsewhere carry the virus with them.

Early intervention is key. So are painstaking tracking, enforced quarantines and meticulous social distancing — all coordinated by a leadership willing to act fast and be transparent.

In Singapore, the details of where patients live, work and play are released quickly online, allowing others to protect themselves. Close contacts of patients are quarantined to limit the spread. The government further strengthened its borders this week to protect against a new wave of imported infections.

Some of these lessons are too late for the United States and Europe, where contagion is raging as some governments delay and debate their response.

And the vigilant monitoring systems in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong were built over years, after their failures to stop another dangerous outbreak — SARS — 17 years ago. The United States disbanded its pandemic response unit in 2018.

There is also the question of how replicable this model from smaller Asian centers is in large Western countries where people might chafe at the harnessing of C.C.T.V. cameras or immigration records for the health of the nation. Disease control infringes on individual liberties, and places like Singapore, where chewing gum was once banned, are more willing to accept government orders.

“Maybe it’s because of our Asian context, but our community is sort of primed for this,” said Lalitha Kurupatham, the deputy director of the communicable diseases division in Singapore. “We will keep fighting, because isolation and quarantine work.”

Rich and orderly, Singapore has spent years building a public health system that includes designated clinics for epidemics and official messaging urging the public to wash their hands or sneeze into tissues during flu season. The Infectious Diseases Act gives the city-state wide latitude in prioritizing the common good over privacy concerns.

“During peacetime, we plan for epidemics like this,” Ms. Kurupatham said.

As the leader of Singapore’s contact tracing program, she has been working 16-hour days for two months, and her depiction of a war against disease is a function of its vulnerability to contagion. A tiny red dot on a world map, Singapore is a densely populated island where every flight is international.

In the early days of the outbreak, Singapore was highly susceptible to a large population of mainland Chinese people arriving during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The dozens of confirmed cases in Singapore in January reflect widespread and freely available testing. Many were mild cases that would otherwise have gone undiagnosed. Nevertheless Singapore was sprinting to stem the possibility of runaway local transmission.

“Until Italy, Korea and Iran happened, Singapore was the worst outside China,” said Linfa Wang, the director of the emerging infectious diseases program at the Duke-National University of Singapore Medical School. “Why didn’t we feel that way? Because the government is very transparent and because that number means we are so effective in tracing and isolating every case.”

For all the panic erupting elsewhere, most Singaporeans do not wear masks out, because the government has told them it’s not needed for their safety. Most schools are still running, albeit with staggered lunchtimes to avoid big crowds. There is plenty of toilet paper.

As of Tuesday evening, Singapore had 266 confirmed cases. Only a fraction are mysteries, unlinked to recent foreign travel or previously identified local clusters, which include churches and a private dinner.

Nearly 115 patients have been discharged from the hospital. Singapore has recorded no deaths from the coronavirus.

When rumors of a mysterious respiratory virus began circulating in China at the beginning of the year, Singapore moved quickly. It was one of the first countries to ban all travelers from mainland China, starting in late January. Thermal scanners measured the temperatures of all who came into the country.

In a nation of 5.7 million residents, Singapore rapidly developed the capacity to test more than 2,000 people a day for the coronavirus. In Washington State, one of the hardest hit places in the United States, public labs are aiming to process 400 samples a day.

Testing is free in Singapore, as is medical treatment for all locals. Singapore has 140 contact tracers outlining each patient’s case history, along with the police and security services doing the shoe-leather work.

After weeks of investigation and the use of a new antibody test that can detect people who have recovered, health officials were able to tie two church clusters of 33 people to a Lunar New Year dinner attended by members of both congregations. The people who transmitted the disease between the two churches had never shown serious symptoms.

Close contacts of patients are put into mandatory quarantine to stop further contagion. Nearly 5,000 have been isolated. Those who dodge quarantine orders can face criminal charges.

All pneumonia patients in Singapore are tested for coronavirus. So are people who are seriously ill. Positive cases have been identified at the airport, at government clinics and, most frequently, through contact tracing.

Singapore’s epidemic regimen was shaped by the 2003 SARS outbreak, when 33 people died out of 238 confirmed cases. As in Hong Kong, medical workers were among the casualties in Singapore.

Hong Kong’s heavy death toll from SARS, nearly 300 people, has spurred residents in the semiautonomous Chinese territory to exercise vestigial muscles of disease prevention this time around, even as the local authorities initially dithered on whether to close the border with mainland China. Nearly everyone, it seemed, began squirting hand sanitizer. Malls and offices set up thermal scanners.

“The most important thing is that Hong Kong people have deep memories of the SARS outbreak,” said Kwok Ka-ki, a lawmaker in Hong Kong who is also a doctor. “Every citizen did their part, including wearing masks and washing their hands and taking necessary precautions, such as avoiding crowded places and gatherings.”

The Hong Kong government eventually caught up to the public’s caution. Borders were tightened. Civil servants were ordered to work from home, prompting more companies to follow suit. Schools were closed in January, until at least the end of April.

Taiwan acted even faster. Like Hong Kong and Singapore, Taiwan was linked by direct flights to Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus is believed to have originated. Taiwan’s national health command center, which was set up after SARS killed 37 people, began ordering screenings of passengers from Wuhan in late December even before Beijing admitted that the coronavirus was spreading between humans.

“Having learned our lesson before from SARS, as soon as the outbreak began, we adopted a whole-of-government approach,” said Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister.

By the end of January, Taiwan had suspended flights from China, despite the World Health Organization’s advising against it. The government also embraced big data, integrating its national health insurance database with its immigration and customs information to trace potential cases, said Jason Wang, the director of the Center for Policy, Outcomes and Prevention at Stanford University. When coronavirus cases were discovered on the Diamond Princess cruise ship after a stop in Taiwan, text messages were sent to every mobile phone on the island, listing each restaurant, tourist site and destination that the ship’s passengers had visited during their shore leave.

As of Tuesday, Taiwan had recorded 77 cases of the coronavirus, although critics worry that testing is not widespread enough. Students returned to school in late February.

With new waves of the virus surging across the world, public health officials in the three locales are gearing up for a longer fight.

On Tuesday, the government of Hong Kong, where only 157 cases have been confirmed, announced a mandatory 14-day quarantine for all travelers from abroad beginning later this week.

Taiwan will require self-quarantine for arrivals from 20 countries and three American states.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore warned last week that the country’s caseload would increase sharply. Singapore announced 23 new coronavirus patients on Tuesday, the highest single-day tally, with 17 imported cases.

The city-state has restricted its borders further. Arrivals from Southeast Asia and parts of Europe must now undergo a 14-day self-quarantine.

“The world is only as good as the weakest link,” said Dr. Lee, the head of Singapore’s communicable diseases division. “Diseases do not respect borders.”

Chris Horton contributed reporting from Taipei, Taiwan, and Elaine Yu from Hong Kong.

[PSP415]

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/coronavirus-covid-19-south-korea-cases-toll-12554672

New surge in SK's covid-19 cases. Let's hope its quickly contained. 

Take care and keep well 

Safe ride 

Cheers 

[RH1667]

Wonder why USA is still not in the list of arriving passenger that needs to be quarantine / SHN? 

[Weez911]

Dear Singsoc leaders,

We understand that many Singaporean students are trying to secure flights back to Singapore. We have struck an exclusive ticket arrangement with Singapore Airlines for you to travel back to Singapore from 19-31 March 2020, subject to availability. We are offering this facilitation to students first as the rest of the Singaporean community based here are more rooted and have other support.

Singaporean students (citizens and PRs) may register your interest at go.gov.sg/flyinghome2020 and refer to the detailed instructions within. Singapore Airlines will get in touch directly with you. Singapore Airlines will do all possible to contact you at least 24 hours before your allocated flight, and will reach out with more lead time wherever possible. Once ticketed, Singapore Airlines reserves the right to rebook your travel on an alternative flight due to operational contingencies. This special arrangement with Singapore Airlines is exclusively for Singapore citizens and PRs. Entries/expressions of interest by non-Singaporeans will be treated as void.

Your safety is of utmost importance and rest assured that the Singapore High Commission in London is looking into getting additional flights if there is high unmet demand, including for further arrangements in April.

Singapore Airlines has advised that if students wish to return urgently, they may proceed to Heathrow Airport T2 to standby for a flight on the day itself. However, Singapore Airlines cannot guarantee that they will be accepted but there is a chance that Singapore Airlines will have some seats available.  In such a scenario, you should preferably not have already put in a request through this system as we would like to avoid duplication and clogging up the system.  We seek your understanding and cooperation to ensure the smooth operation of this system we have put in place, which we would fine-tune as necessary.

Please stay in close touch with us, monitor your health, and continue to stay united as one Singapore community! #SGUnited

https://form.gov.sg/#!/5e70f0487ae7d300113ef1b4

[Philipkee]

15 minutes ago, RH1667 said:

Wonder why USA is still not in the list of arriving passenger that needs to be quarantine / 

Actually I tot all arrivals from any country will be issued SHN?

There is also probably a calculation that we dont have many direct flights to and from USA and any one coming from USA will transit in one of the airports on the banned list.  So its ban without obvious banning.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Philipkee

[Weez911]

 

[Thaiyotakamli]

57 minutes ago, Theoldjaffa said:

What was the post about and who is it from?

it got removed before I could read it

Its trump today speech and calling it china virus twice lol

[Carbon82]

16 hours ago, Turboflat4 said:

By the way, I'm not sure if anyone noted this dubious and unfortunate milestone, but we already passed it before this latest jump: at the end of the epidemic, there were "only" 238 cases of SARS. 

We have now (un)comfortably surpassed that number.

Poor @Carbon82 started this thread with the hopes (that I shared) that this wouldn't be as bad.

It's not. 

It's much, much worse. 

And will get even worser (yes I know my damn grammar).

Yes, the unfortunate turn of event has happened. Seriously when I first noted the spike in cases reported in Wuhan, something just tell me that it has the potential to spread to other part of the world, given the vast exchange of human activities across the globe. But little did I expect China to be the one that successfully contained it (within a relatively short time frame of 2+ months - with the lock down), while many developed countries lost control of it when it hit there shore.

I attribute this wide spread to the inefficiency of WHO, who fails to issue travel advisory in late Jan, and taking their own sweet time to determine if it is a global pandemic. If they have taken the lead earlier, situation wouldn't have taken a sudden down turn in the past 2 - 3 weeks. Back in our homeland, while I applause MOH for their preparedness in handling all the infected patients (with 0 fatality till date), I have something to comment about the lack in quarantine and control.

IIRC, back in 2003 SARS period, all suspected personnel and close contact of confirmed cases were put under quarantine order (it carries legal liability and penalty), and control of personnel movement were quite strict too (I don't want to go through the lengthy details), while this time round, we have LOA, SHN, Quarantine Order, etc. in hope to minimize disruption to social and business activities. So what are the differences? Strictly speaking LOA is not a full quarantine, and with the lack in issuing travel advisory (the initial focus is just China and some related countries) it "facilitate" personnel movement and thus no surprises to see the spike in confirmed cases in the past week. And did anyone noted that we have confirmed cases with unidentified source almost everyday (e.g. case 273, 288, 302, etc.)?! I don't want to speculate the causes, but I am sure we can do more to minimize the number, if we have taken more extreme measures.

I might sounds like a broken recorder but during SARS period, when everyone are equally clueless as to what approach to take, as long as suggestion sounds plausible, let just try it out (putting new / return employee on 14 days quarantine at designated hostel, dormitory, quarantine centre, etc is just one of the many measures suggested by individual and get implemented). But this time round, probably due to the much lower mortality rate, everyone are taking things too lightly. Bearing in mind that fatality is directly related to resources available, things might take a sudden downturn too, if our medical system become overwhelmed by continuous spike in infected patients!!

OK, I shall stop ranting, but do mark my words.

[RadX]

Aussie also lockdown from non-residents 

 

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/australia-bans-all-non-resident-arrivals-covid-19-coronavirus-12555388?cid=FBcna

[Civic2000]

Malaysia lockdown: Overnight boom for hostels as M'sians working in S’pore scramble for rooms
Read more at https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/malaysia-lockdown-overnight-boom-hostels-budget-hotels-malaysians-working-spore-scramble?fbclid=IwAR25NxjysosPBDVUPSFMxl7XwQHk8NERmhzoL5oJRsmyGmUb4kfs6vUmZfY

 

[Windwaver]

Prata man not enough, got extra saliva 

https://mothership.sg/2020/03/yole-dip-spoon-united-square/

Yolé disciplines staff for eating out of tub & dipping used spoon in it at United Square outlet

 

[Mockngbrd]

share zhup with staff. gg

[Fitvip]

Doctor performed autopsy on dead covid patient

 

[Atrecord]

51 minutes ago, yishunite said:

We also getting a lot of our overseas scholars coming home. We must welcome them back. Hopefully they learn the kind of sacrifices normal ppl made and keeps them humble for life

Yes, for those students or workers based overseas, now given the danger, we should bring them back quickly.

But for those who now knowing the situation is so grave, still decided to travel, then i say they're asking for it. Don't go take risk and come back burden us all.