COVID-19: SG to enter Phase 3 from 28th Dec

[Sosaria]

1 hour ago, Kyrios said:

Best is to deport them back to cecaland after they recovered and blacklist them from entering SG to compete for jobs in the future. Record their fingerprint and biometrics to prevent them from reentering using a different name or forged passport. Then make a few examples of such cases by publishing their names in shitty times to make an example of such flagrancies. Deport their dependants as well.

Wow..ok..what i have written is just wishful thinking..cos our gahmen is so fond of prostituting ourselves.  I await the day when we have to re-escalate to Phase 1.

So eager to show our "open-ness" by taking risk (and seems even riskier now with the community cases emerging and increasingly higher numbers of imports) of rushing forward to host events like the WEF in May, and recently, out in the news, the international gaming tournament (we need this for what??) where as was expected, some overseas competitors tested positive! ...Am just waiting for another hotel or convention centre cluster ... haizzz when will they ever learn? For the sake of some brownie points.

Edited January 17, 2021 by Sosaria

[inlinesix]

5 minutes ago, Sosaria said:

So eager to show our "open-ness" by taking risk (and seems even riskier now with the community cases emerging and increasingly higher numbers of imports) of rushing forward to host events like the WEF in May, and recently, out in the news, the international gaming tournament (we need this for what??) where as was expected, some overseas competitors tested positive! ...Am just waiting for another hotel or convention centre cluster ... haizzz when will they ever learn? For the sake of some brownie points.

We heading towards 900 cases for January.

At least 3 esports competitors

[inlinesix]

[Sent by Gov.sg – 17 Jan]

As of 12pm, MOH has preliminarily confirmed 2 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. 

Based on investigations so far, the cases are in the community, and there are no new cases in the dormitories.

There are 28 imported cases who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore.

In total, there are 30 new cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore today.

MOH will share further updates in its press release that will be issued later tonight.

go.gov.sg/moh170121update

[Weez911]

54 minutes ago, Sosaria said:

So eager to show our "open-ness" by taking risk (and seems even riskier now with the community cases emerging and increasingly higher numbers of imports) of rushing forward to host events like the WEF in May, and recently, out in the news, the international gaming tournament (we need this for what??) where as was expected, some overseas competitors tested positive! ...Am just waiting for another hotel or convention centre cluster ... haizzz when will they ever learn? For the sake of some brownie points.

Next time ask your MP whether our lives are more important or hosting WEF more important. Whether human lives more important or other countries' perception of Singapore more important. 

[Tkseah]

19 hours ago, inlinesix said:

From Jan 1, 2021, govt no longer pays the medical treatment for all import cases.

For all work permit holder, all employers have to bear the cost.  MOM encouraged ppl to buy insurance with minimum 10k cover.

For all other ppl, ownself pay ownself.

For the imported domestic helper cases, who will be paying?

[inlinesix]

Just now, Tkseah said:

For the imported domestic helper cases, who will be paying?

Employer.

[Atonchia]

Some barbecue pits and camp sites in parks to reopen from Jan 20

SINGAPORE - Barbecue pits and camping sites in parks here will reopen for use on Wednesday (Jan 20).

Applications for permits restarted last Wednesday (Jan 13).

As of 2pm on Friday (Jan 15), 14 camping permits and 29 barbecue pit permits have been issued, the National Parks Board (NParks) said in response to Straits Times queries.

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/some-barbecue-pits-and-camp-sites-in-parks-to-reopen-from-jan-20

 

[Atonchia]

I went cycling last night....went toilet at Changi Beach park

Already have 20 plus people at BBQ pit area playing drums + music on speakers.  

Non wind instrument and drums are OK right? 

Picnic also OK? 

But still must keep to 8. 

So meaning now BBQ pit still not open for booking.... 😅😅

Have seen people BBQing at ECP pit for a while also. 🤭🤭

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by Atonchia

[13177]

1 hour ago, Atonchia said:

I went cycling last night....went toilet at Changi Beach park

Already have 20 plus people at BBQ pit area playing drums + music on speakers.  

Non wind instrument and drums are OK right? 

Picnic also OK? 

But still must keep to 8. 

So meaning now BBQ pit still not open for booking.... 😅😅

Have seen people BBQing at ECP pit for a while also. 🤭🤭

 

People no scare since garment is opening up so many activities, plus vaccine is in progress now. 😅

[Sosaria]

1 hour ago, Atonchia said:

Some barbecue pits and camp sites in parks to reopen from Jan 20

SINGAPORE - Barbecue pits and camping sites in parks here will reopen for use on Wednesday (Jan 20).

Applications for permits restarted last Wednesday (Jan 13).

As of 2pm on Friday (Jan 15), 14 camping permits and 29 barbecue pit permits have been issued, the National Parks Board (NParks) said in response to Straits Times queries.

 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/some-barbecue-pits-and-camp-sites-in-parks-to-reopen-from-jan-20

 

Opening up is easy but who is going to police them and ensure SMM followed? NParks? SDAs? 24 hours? (since bbq are often overnight). Good luck

[Tohto]

2 hours ago, Atonchia said:

I went cycling last night....went toilet at Changi Beach park

Already have 20 plus people at BBQ pit area playing drums + music on speakers.  

Non wind instrument and drums are OK right? 

Picnic also OK? 

But still must keep to 8. 

So meaning now BBQ pit still not open for booking.... 😅😅

Have seen people BBQing at ECP pit for a while also. 🤭🤭

 

As usual everything here have law that it is illegal like the PMD. But there is hardly any enforcement. 

Have law also like no law. Talk only. Unlike the older days.

[Hamburger]

Now at Bugis area. 

People mountain people sea. 

[inlinesix]

27 minutes ago, Tohto said:

As usual everything here have law that it is illegal like the PMD. But there is hardly any enforcement. 

Have law also like no law. Talk only. Unlike the older days.

Even the enforcement officers have operating hours.

During my 2 weeks run at Bkt Timah Hill, I don't see any Nparks stuff till 8+am.

On some days, I was there since 6am.

[13177]

1 hour ago, Hamburger said:

Now at Bugis area. 

People mountain people sea. 

Cny is coming, everywhere surely super crowded. People go out to buy stuffs, shopping and gathering.

[1fast1]

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciab014/6076528

Free pdf download link available. A very interesting article. It is slightly technical and medically trained folk will be better able to understand the nuances, but the summary is like this:

-Elderly UK man with multiple medical risk factors had lab confirmed infection with SARS-COV-2 (the COVID-19 virus) in first wave (April 2020). 

-he had mild illness and recovered clinically 

- antibody titres remained high during follow-up 

-despite this, he came in with much more severe symptoms and critical illness. Repeat testing (November 2020) revealed reinfection with SARS-COV-2. 

-laboratory testing (whole genome sequencing) revealed that the infections had been caused by different variants, with the latest one being the "infamous" variant strain. 

***

Those are the facts from the article (published in a reputable journal I frequently read and cite myself). These are my own thoughts:

-the antibody assay used was against a protein (N, nucleocapsid) not established to confer a neutralising response against the virus. That's usually associated with responses to S (spike) protein epitopes (epitopes are parts of an antigen that are immunologically significant). This does not imply that the patient had no, or insufficient neutralising, antibodies at the time of reinfection, merely that we do not know.

-if he did have neutralising antibodies, then it is possible the variant virus is capable of causing infection even in those with a "protective" response to the previous iteration of the virus. This is theoretically plausible as the variant has mutations in its spike proteins, which aid immunological escape - this can potentially manifest as vaccine escape, natural immunity escape and even diagnostic assay escape (and the latter may not even be limited to serological tests). This is a technical discussion I will not go into further, but it's a worrisome phenomenon, because of the whole Red Queen hypothesis in evolutionary biology and its implications in our "arms race" against emerging biothreats - basically, we may be smart, but we may always be too slow against "dumb" and "mindless" things that can replicate and mutate randomly and rapidly.

-finally, while not discussed in the article, there is the *really* worrisome possibility of immune enhancement - the actual worsening of clinical outcomes during infection following prior infection or immunisation. Again, this is highly technical, and while not clearly established with SARS-COV-2, it is an established phenomenon with viruses as diverse as dengue and RSV (the latter is a human respiratory virus). The reason I am even speculating on this dire thing is because the guy had a mild illness the first time, but a severe one the second, without clear evidence so far that the new variant is more virulent/pathogenic (I'm not talking about infectiousness or transmissibility here - those are already established to be worse with the new variant). So the possibility of immune enhancement must be considered, in my view. 

***

OK, so any take home messages? 

Someone in this forum asked: why rush for the vaccine? What's the hurry? 

My point is: there *is* a hurry in my view. Because even if the existing vaccines do not confer sufficient protection against the new variant, they are likely to dampen transmission of the more established ones. Remember, passage through human hosts is how the virus accumulates mutation in the first place, so reducing this drastically should be our first step. So vaccinate, mask up and social distance - at least we can prevent more new variants with greater infectiousness and even pathogenicity from emerging so quickly. 

What about the risk of immune enhancement? This is a highly technical topic, but I'll link this other paper as well: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00789-5 Again, the take home message from that seems to be that specific neutralising responses to spike protein epitopes don't seem to be associated with immune enhancement in animal models, whereas a broader range of immune responses may be problematic. On that basis, it is possible that a vaccine specifically targeted at the spike protein (like the mRNA ones) may be theoretically safer in this one respect than the inactivated viral vaccine. But drawing firm conclusions is not possible, I am merely speculating here. 

One thing is fairly clear to me: it is of *critical* importance to block importation and then further community transmission of the UK (and other) novel variant(s). Vaccination and infection with the more established variants may *not* confer protection against new variants. In fact, what we might get is population level shifts in the epidemiology of the circulating viral variant(s) as a result of selective pressure from vaccination and other measures - this has been documented in other pathogens like Haemophilus influenzae (a bacterium, not a virus) that had its epidemiology drastically altered by widespread vaccination against a particular capsular type (type B). 

Basically, close our borders to the new variant(s), even if we wish to open up our local economy further. Oh and it goes without saying, I am speaking purely in a personal capacity. 

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by Turboflat4

[Fcw75]

I saw the news, a doctor said if a person has been vaccinated and he still got infected, his symptoms will not be that serious to warrant a hospital stay. In a way, it lessen the load at the hospital. 

[Atonchia]

2 hours ago, Sosaria said:

Opening up is easy but who is going to police them and ensure SMM followed? NParks? SDAs? 24 hours? (since bbq are often overnight). Good luck

BBQ pits under NPark.... 

Law and order under police

(say consume alcohol after 1030pm)

Safe distancing under MOH? 

Across 3 agencies... 

Imagine we push them to enforce......... 

The future way will be.... 

Just install CCTV with facial recognition supported with AI, couple with mobile number, 

Each person will receive a Gov warning message automatically on each infringement... 

Very scary... Big brother in full control... 

😅😅😅😅

[Sosaria]

Even in the Australian state of Victoria there are now growing calls from the public to cancel the Australian Open after several players and members of the tennis entourage came down with covid. Or should i say, most likely, arrived with covid from their overseas origins. Makes no sense to sabo the local population for the sake of continuing large-scale events.