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

[zipping]

 

Dup post..

Edited March 18, 2020 by zipping

[zipping]

1 hour ago, Turboflat4 said:

The fact that we're not specifically targeting the US shows how weak our gahmen has become since the Michael Fay time. No backbone anymore. 

[Volvobrick]

3 hours ago, Ct3833 said:

If everyday have 50 cases, 30 days later is no longer 50. No need maths and science, just look at how the situation  evolved by the day in Wuhan, italy, s Korea and iran etc.  

For every confirmed case, how many more are just waiting for test results but already hospitalised and taking up more and more beds? This is not clear.

[Volvobrick]

3 hours ago, Jman888 said:

You want Singaporean die in foreign land?

To be fair this is a very tough call - The counter question could be if we want those who travel out (despite travel advisory) to high risk places to come back to infect the vulnerable ones. 

Everyone has a right to safety. 

[BenTong]

5 hours ago, Ho2786 said:

this is the end

if everyday have 50 cases

in 30 days, no more ICU beds.

Ok ok noted your comment 

[Yewheng]

https://mothership.sg/2020/03/indonesia-religious-mass-gathering-covid-19/

 

 

Darn it.. Wait till they tio covid-19 through that gathering and then see whether these people will still say as above not? Need all people cooperation.. If people don't cooperate, then the covid-19 will keep spreading like crazy.. Haiz.. 

[Jellandross]

Jurong cluster fk: Eh aunties uncles you all still want to attend the dinner not scared meh? Aiyah.. paid for dinner already of course go jiak lah.. Won't so unlucky one lah. 

March holiday merry makers: Eh bros and sis you all still want to proceed with your holiday travels not scared meh? Aiyah.. Paid for booking already of course go enjoy lah.. Won't so unlucky one lah. 

And so on and so on..... 

Pls ban idiocy. 

 

Edited March 18, 2020 by Jellandross

[Icedbs]

5 hours ago, Philipkee said:

 

The economy would take a very big hit.  Now the question is which is worse.

And lest anyone forget, masks are still not readily available commercially.

Without question, public health comes first.

It is silly trying to save the economy first during a virus outbreak, because economy comes from public confidence.  Public confidence will then induce business & public spending.  

If this outbreak is not handled well,  economy will tank anyway regardless of  what they do.

 

 

 

[Wind30]

Although today’s cases looks like a lot is imported, I think going after a ban in air travel is useless. Just force quarantine all short term visitors in official sites and charge them for the stay. 
 

U weed out all the non essential travel but still let in people who really need to travel. Now I really doubt there is much travel anyway... these cases were probably decided weeks ago, 1 week for incubation, 2 weeks travel. 

 

the most impt thing is community spread I think. We are still not changing our test case... people who came back from overseas are alert and won’t spread. Example I ask my engineer who came back from Malaysia right before shut down to work from home. 
 

the one to tip us to critical will be community spread. People need to stay at home. Simple as that.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Wind30

[Philipkee]

[Sent by Gov.sg]
 
*COVID-19: 18 Mar Update*
 
As of 12pm:
New cases: 47
Total cases in Singapore: 313
Discharged today: 3
Total discharged: 117
Total remaining in Hospital: 196
 
Of new cases: 33 imported, 9 linked to previous cases, 5 currently unlinked

Most in hospital stable or improving. 15 in ICU.

go.gov.sg/moh18mar

*Additional measures to reduce imported cases*

About 70% of recent new cases imported; most S'poreans and residents returning from travel 

👉 With immediate effect, S’pore residents are advised to defer *all travel abroad*. Avoid being infected abroad and spreading infection here.

*14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) for all entering SG*

From 20 Mar 2359hrs, all S’poreans, PRs, Long-Term Pass Holders, Short-Term Visitors entering S’pore will be issued 14-day SHN

Short-term visitors who have visited Mainland China, France, Germany, Italy, Iran, Republic of Korea, Spain in the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter or transit

go.gov.sg/travel18mar

[Weez911]

For the past two weeks, Hong Kong resident Larry Salibra has been trying to convince his parents based in the American state of Florida to stay with him, fearing that authorities and people in the United States are not taking the coronavirus threat seriously enough – but the older Salibras, in their 70s, felt the risk of air travel was too great.

Salibra, the 38-year-old founder of tech firm New Internet Labs, said Hong Kong authorities and residents had taken the coronavirus threat “very seriously” since January. While Washington’s tone has changed in recent days, he said “the US public at large from their behaviour appears dismissive of the risk”.

“Given that my parents are in the age range that has a much higher fatality rate, it seemed to me that the best place to be would be in a place like Hong Kong, Singapore or Taiwan,” said Salibra, adding that hospitals in the special administrative region seemed better equipped to treat patients.

In the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, a 48-year-old businessman who only wanted to give his name as Widjaja dispatched his family of 12 to Singapore on Sunday evening – just the city state announced expanded travel restrictions, including a requirement that from late Monday, arrivals from Southeast Asian nations would have to self-quarantine for 14 days.

“We are concerned that things might get worse,” Widjaja said, noting that Indonesia had 227 cases and 19 deaths – a number experts say is not a true picture given the country’s low testing rates. “We have confidence in the Singapore health care system. It is one of the top in the world.”

Indeed, more reports of foreigners seeing cities like Singapore and Hong Kong as safe harbours from the coronavirus are emerging, as global infections soar to more than 193,000 and the epicentres of contagion shift to countries like Italy and Britain – which have more than 31,000 and 1,900 cases respectively.

Two men in face masks chat while standing on a Kowloon promenade overlooking Victoria Harbour and the skyline of Hong Kong Island. Photo: AFPTwo men in face masks chat while standing on a Kowloon promenade overlooking Victoria Harbour and the skyline of Hong Kong Island. 
Two men in face masks chat while standing on a Kowloon promenade overlooking Victoria Harbour and the skyline of Hong Kong Island. 

Hong Kong and Singapore have both seen a spike in imported cases. The Lion City, which has 266 cases, has seen 70 per cent of its new cases in the past week come from abroad. In Hong Kong, which has 181 cases, 70 per cent of new cases over the past two weeks were residents or foreigners with a history of travel, with some cases not declaring pre-existing symptoms upon arrival.

Hong Kong Executive Council member Dr Lam Ching-choi on Wednesday told a radio programme that mandatory self-quarantine measures for all arrivals to the city should deter foreign visitors, but the government was monitoring whether people were coming to the city just to get more effective coronavirus treatment.

Dr Asok Kurup, an infectious disease physician at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Hospital, said on a daily basis there were about 15 to 20 people who wanted to be tested for the coronavirus. He said these people – most of whom were from Indonesia, while there were also Singaporeans and other foreigners – were largely healthy and without symptoms, so they did not meet the criteria to be tested.

Singapore currently only tests those whom it categorises as suspected cases, which include people who have been to areas with surging infection rates or those suffering from pneumonia or severe respiratory infections.
Asok said that even if they insisted and said they would pay for a test, doctors would not be able to perform one as the test kits were government-subsidised and controlled.

Testing and treatment were initially free for foreigners and locals alike, but as an increasing number of new cases involved foreigners, Singapore last week reversed a decision to waive treatment fees for short-term visitors. The government had previously said the cost of producing each kit was S$270 (US$189).

Dr Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease expert at Singapore’s Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said he had been getting about five calls a day from patients all over the world – mostly from Indonesia and Cambodia – asking to be tested for Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

“Everyone has so much fear, and fear can [cause panic, leading us to] use our tests [on healthy people],” he said. “We have been very judicious in our use so there is no issue with supply.”

Hong Kong Doctors Union President Henry Yeung Chiu-fat said, like in Singapore, patients had to exhibit symptoms of upper respiratory tract infection or have a fever before they could be tested.

This applied to Hongkongers and foreigners alike, he said, adding that he was of the view that foreigners saw Hong Kong as a safe place to be in.
Almost every resident in the city wears a face mask in public, and there has been a visible move towards hygienic practices and social distancing, with hand sanitiser available at MTR stations and many offices still allowing staff to work from home.

Hong Kong on Thursday announced the introduction of a red travel alert covering all countries, which imposes quarantine or medical surveillance on all arrivals into the city.

Singapore, meanwhile, has conducted detailed contact tracing of all patients and released information on where confirmed cases live and work, in a bid to get others to avoid those areas, while firmly enforcing quarantine orders.
Jen Lasher, a 37-year-old lawyer who is based in the city of Thousand Oaks, California, said Singapore’s use of technology to trace and contain coronavirus cases made her want to move her family there in mid-February.

She has since decided it is now “too risky” to travel from Los Angeles International Airport, where large numbers of travellers transit. “At some point even with the best containment strategy, I would imagine the influx [of travellers to Singapore] would be too great and they could want to ration care for foreigners to take care of their own.”

Indeed, with residents of Singapore and Hong Kong who study, work or have travelled abroad rushing to head home, public health experts warn they could see a rise in infections despite having been able to keep the disease at manageable levels so far.

A Singapore-based Malaysian, who wished to be known as J, brought forward her 15-year-old son’s flight from London to this month.
“He was due to be home for the Easter holidays but we decided to take him out early, seeing the current situation in Britain,” said J, who is self-employed. “The British government’s approach to containing the virus is not very reassuring.”

Paulina, an Indonesian entrepreneur who only wanted to give her first name, said she had arrived in Singapore from Jakarta on March 6, just days after Indonesia announced its first cases. The trip was not planned but had given her peace of mind, the 29-year-old said.

“I flew to Singapore as an act of disease prevention. I chose Singapore because it is geographically nearer to Indonesia, and I have friends and a sister here as a support system.”

Asok, the infectious disease physician, said the influx of travellers entering the city state before travel restrictions were tightened could set Singapore up for a new wave of infections.

“We are going to be prepared to see a bit of an increase and spike in cases over the next two weeks because, as with the surge in tourists, there will certainly be cases among them,” he said.

This comes as some countries with a significant number of cases, such as the US, are excluded from Singapore’s current travel ban.

“It’s a moving target because the US is starting to show more and more cases,” Asok said. “We would probably have to deal with the surge and most of the hospitals even in the private sector are ready to accept cases and we have ramped up infrastructure in that way.”

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/healt...-safe-harbours

[Picnic06-Biante15]

MOD ( @kobayashiGT  )

Can bring back the CNA link as previous (no more in display after reaching page 711) with regards to the number of cases worldwide.

I always click into the link to check the number of cases of other countries.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Picnic06-Biante15

[Victor68]

5 hours ago, Yewheng said:

https://mothership.sg/2020/03/indonesia-religious-mass-gathering-covid-19/

 

 

Darn it.. Wait till they tio covid-19 through that gathering and then see whether these people will still say as above not? Need all people cooperation.. If people don't cooperate, then the covid-19 will keep spreading like crazy.. Haiz.. 

As individual, you may want to decide what is best for you but for the community,  if you are not acting responsibly,  the government must act to ensure you comply. So, hope such thing are never allowed here.

[Yewheng]

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3075851/coronavirus-italy-says-99-people-who-died-had-other-illnesses?utm_content=article&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1584552872

 

Italy majority of death are elderly and those with underlying medical conditions.. This is consistent with the trend everywhere around the world..

Maybe pm Lee can take this statistics and see how to take more care of these group of people should the covid-19 cases increaesd till need to go for plan b or plan C or whatsoever.. 

[BabyBlade]

Although the situation seems really bad now with 47 cases, let's all try to be calm and listen to Lawrence Wong. Look at the data and not just the numbers. 33 imported, many are returning Singaporeans being recalled back by their institution. 

My friend studying in the US is being asked to return to Singapore as well. She's in a dilemma as her husband is there too. But her husband has to stay put due to diplomatic implications. Both are true blue Singaporeans. 

So let's be mindful and advise our family members, friends or colleagues that are panicking to remain calm and don't just look at the numbers. 

Just treat 2020 as canceled and put whatever big plans you have for the year and maybe even the next on hold. 

[Yewheng]

3 minutes ago, Victor68 said:

As individual, you may want to decide what is best for you but for the community,  if you are not acting responsibly,  the government must act to ensure you comply. So, hope such thing are never allowed here.

I still don't understand why government till now still don't want to announce to temporarily suspend all church services till covid-19 situation improves.. The latest 43 new cases is a good time to impost this suspension leh.. 

[Mockngbrd]

The purge liao

[Mockngbrd]

Just now, Yewheng said:

I still don't understand why government till now still don't want to announce to temporarily suspend all church services till covid-19 situation improves.. The latest 43 new cases is a good time to impost this suspension leh.. 

Church I go already no more gathering in real life.