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https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/exhausted-dutch-minister-leading-coronavirus-fight-quits-12558254 Not meant to be a political thread. but just want to give thanks to the man in charge of overseeing the situation in sg. The face of COVID-19 in Sg is that of National Development Minister Lawrence Wong. Maybe nt noticed by many before the task force was setup, surely well noticed by all now. Not an easy task to be the one delivering all the bad news every day. From dorscon orange, to the panic buying situation, to announcing all the new travel advisories, pleading with sgreans not to go overseas this period, taking questions from the press, being asked tough questions like will sg be seeing triple figures soon since 47 cases recorded, still kept a calm face throughout. speaks well, good english, measured response. stil cannot escape from all the negative responses from public saying wayang etc but majority of sgreans dont thinklike that... lawrence wong has been seen as the main person overseeing all the press conferences instead of our health minister. sai gang warrior. i give credit where credit is due. it is a stressful job this period. wish him best of health. http://theindependent.sg/lawrence-wong-gets-high-marks-from-netizens-for-coronavirus-crisis-response/ Singapore— National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force specially formed to combat the coronavirus outbreak, has quietly been winning over many Singaporeans for how he has handled the crisis, with even normally critical netizens calling him “nuanced,” “measured,” and “better than the rest of the team.” People have even noted how the tech-savvy minister uses his smartphone as a tool during press conferences. Some have even called for him to be the next Deputy Prime Minister, and there are those who have compared other ministers to Mr Wong quite unfavourably.

Hi all. This is a question I've been asked by a couple of you who are concerned about your upcoming holiday trip - whether you should postpone your trip or not. I'm aware there's another thread regarding flight cancellations but I'll start this one here to share more about my FIRST Bali trip and in particular UBUD! This will include itineraries and tour operators! But I'll update slowly as I've just returned to work and have emails and work to clear. We'll talk about the Changi Airport situation first. - I had a 5am flight. Took a Grab to the airport with my friend. Driver wore a mask, but was coughing! He was really friendly to help with our luggage though. Wished him well when we alighted. - Inside Terminal 1 (flight was Jetstar), about 50% (my estimation could be wrong) of the people wearing masks, this is comparatively higher to the heartlands where it's about 30%-40% wearing masks? - Auto-dispense Sanitizers (sensor type) readily available at the auto check-in counters. Everything was normal except we exceeded our 15kg sole check in luggage by 5kg (it was 20kg). Spent the next 30 mins trying to unpack and repack to 15kg. What a bummer. - Immigration, thermal scans. Few people sitting behind the thermal scanners/monitors watching you as you make your way towards immigration. For me, it was also my first time using the iris and facial ID for immigration clearance on my new passport. Times like these, it's also much more hygienic than thumbprint scan. After we cleared immigration, it was pretty much normal. Normal in the sense you can feel the seriousness in the air (virus scare) but at the same time, everything is normal but you take extra precautions. You see more people masking up, you see people using hand sanitizers proactively etc. 4am shops closed, nothing much to do. For me personally, I masked up just before boarding the plane. Flight to Bali was about 70% filled. You see empty seats here and there. Air crew didn't wear masks. Tough job. Huge respect to them! On the plane I refrained from touching anything onboard the plane other than the seat belts and the window shades when it got too sunny. I would sanitize my hands after each time. Used to like to go through the inflight magazines as well to kill time, didn't do it this time. What surprised me was the number of Caucasians wearing masks. In Singapore, you see lots of ang mohs tourists not masking up but in the airport, a good percentage of them actually masked up. It may or may not be effective against the virus but I guess we're just doing it for peace of mind, even if it's just a false sense of security. Whatever floats your boat you get what I mean? We're also handed a declaration form regarding the COVID-19. This is required by the Indonesian immigration. Basically to state if you've been to China for the past 14 days. Landing in Bali Never expected the Bali Ngurah Rai International Airport to be this big and modern! Again, thermal scans just before immigration, and also you have to hand in the COVID-19 declaration form, and in return you're given a COVID-19 paper. I see it as declaring us as COVID-19 free? Lol. The way I see it, the checks being done felt the same as Changi Airport. I don't see Singapore as being more stringent or anything like that. Heard immigration officers asking another Singaporean if she's been to China. Apparently she was there for a holiday in December but left in January 22nd or something like that. He asked her things like why were you there, etc. Think he cleared her in the end. So yeah that's about the experience at Changi, onboard the plane and Bali airport. Medications I bought for the trip I have sinus every morning and also I catch a cold quite easily on a flight. Didn't wanna be mistaken for having COVID-19 symptoms so I bought medications. - Afrin Nasal Spray ( I use at least 2 hours before the flight) - Zyrtec-R (Take 2 hours before flight) - Panadol Sinus Max - Panadol Cough & Cold - Berocca - VapoDrops (Just in case my sinus acts up mid flight) - Panadols - Kool Fever Cooling Gel Sheets for adults - Mozzie coils - Insect repellent - Mozzie patch - Ru Yi You (my middle name is lao sai queen) So I went on this trip fully aware Bali could already have infections. We all know Zero is impossible. But at the same time, already booked so it's a bit wasted if cancel right? Besides you can catch the virus in Singapore too. It's just a number game and to do with probability. You can only try to practice good hygiene as much as possible and as much as we can remember. Gonna continue with the Bali itinerary later. Back to work! TOTAL MASKS USED FOR THIS ENTIRE 5 DAYS TRIP - 2! (One for plane to Bali, one for plane ride back to SG)