COVID-19: Phase 2 Heightened Alert 16 May to 13 June

[Carbon82]

On 6/1/2021 at 7:05 AM, RadX said:

No more India variant 

https://www.wxii12.com/article/who-new-naming-system-covid-variants-greek-alphabet/36587323

called Delta!

On 6/1/2021 at 7:07 AM, RadX said:

SG variant will be Foxtrot?😂

You don't know Greek alphabet mai geh kiang, what Foxtrot? You thought SAF meh...

Hopefully there is no mutant in Singapore and Malaysia, else Σ (Sigma - 新马) would fit to a tee.

@Throttle2 will said Heng arh only Omega, no Rolex, else his net worth will shrink by don't know how many digits...

[bsswan]

9 hours ago, Lethalstrike said:

I think all this talk about opening up and embracing a "new normal" in his own words is fine, but the caveat is that they have to pull their weight into ensuring at least a few things are done right first, 

1. A robust test / quarantine regime for all foreigners (regardless of STVP, WP,DP etc) with vigilance to developing high risk regions

2. A robust series of SOPs to ensure zero lapses at the immigrations (Changi Airport, Woodlands and Tuas customs)

3. At least 80% of the local population vaccinated 

4. At least some form of capability to manufacture vaccines locally (that's with Pfizer-BioNTech to set up a regional mRNA plant here). But we will only see this be ready from 2023 onwards. 

I think there is a realistic chance that they can get their act together for Items 1-4 (some are already in progress), given enough time but time is a luxury. Pinky always paints an optimistic picture, so it remains to be seen if his team can get Item 1 & 2 done properly or not. So far, the report card is that they screwed up these 2 items for 2021, which are the first line of safeguards.

If these 2 fail,  the medical & contact tracing system has to step up immediately to take up the slack. My concern is that if they continue to screw up, and we're perpetually stuck in the loop of "fine calibrating" 1 & 2, then passing the slack to the medical & contact tracing system once shit hits the fan. Not forgetting the sudden tightening of measures within a few days notice, this is very disruptive for many businesses. This perpetual loop of events should be avoided as much as possible. 

 

 

Actually, I tend to disagree whereby the "new normal" that everybody calls it needs to be viewed as temporary, otherwise life, itself, will suck 5-10yrs from now.

Your #1 and #2 are temporary, even #3 to some extent if we see how many people don't take a flu shot.

The goal is to get back to normal, not rephrase what normal is. LHN's article with CNA yesterday was the same, trying to paint a picture that we all need to wear a mask and self test for years to come - I know Leong, I like him personally, but he's wrong. Such measures must be temporary, albeit 2, 3, 5, 7yrs whatever, but we don't accept this situation. We're better than that.

@Weez911 article from Israel goes most of the way to proving both the temporary nature of where we are, and that we're better than this.

Government and doctors in the region seem to only giving "worst case" here, completely opposite to EU and USA where they know, inherently, we are all better than this. Giving worst case all the time, really screws with people's mental wellbeing but, unfortunately, mental illnesses seems not so highly ranked regionally in comparison to, let's say, the economy.

[CremornePt]

1 minute ago, bsswan said:

Actually, I tend to disagree whereby the "new normal" that everybody calls it needs to be viewed as temporary, otherwise life, itself, will suck 5-10yrs from now.

Amen.

Life is more than "protect our health" & the "economy" - otherwise we might just be farm animals.

And farm animals don't drive cars! 😀

[Watwheels]

28 minutes ago, Sosaria said:

Finally approved by WHO and with that, private clinics here can start offering the shots, together with other vaccine flavours, on at-your-own-risk basis.

Good to give people a choice. Actually a subtle push by the govt to get the many PRC pass-holders here vaccinated and paying out of their own pockets.

If they are paying why would they choose sinovac? Wouldnt they choose smth better?

[inlinesix]

20 minutes ago, CremornePt said:

Even if they go through quarantine?

Yes.

Blood test will show positive.  Can't differentiate btw infection and vaccination.

 

[CremornePt]

1 minute ago, Watwheels said:

If they are paying why would they choose sinovac? Wouldnt they choose smth better?

The gahmen is actually quite clever - the people who knowingly reject a more effective and FREE vaccine in favour of paying for a HSA non-approved Sinovac, likely would never have taken the former anyway, hence expanding the pool of vaccinated people. Win-win.

[Sosaria]

6 minutes ago, Watwheels said:

If they are paying why would they choose sinovac? Wouldnt they choose smth better?

Chinese-made vaccines are gold standard for them  After all, as far as can be seen, lots of their countrymen have been vaccinated with domestically-produced vaccines and the figures show it is effective. You can see now that PRC is in better shape than us now, ironically, since we are still having to wear masks everywhere - while over there they can crowd tourist attractions and go clubbing etc. - back to normal life.

[inlinesix]

20 minutes ago, bsswan said:

Government and doctors in the region seem to only giving "worst case" here, completely opposite to EU and USA where they know, inherently, we are all better than this. Giving worst case all the time, really screws with people's mental wellbeing but, unfortunately, mental illnesses seems not so highly ranked regionally in comparison to, let's say, the economy.

Nowadays, there are more siao lang than ever.

Look at Sovereign & "Where is your badge".

There will be more of these cases in next 12 months.

[Sosaria]

34 minutes ago, inlinesix said:

Maybe we can have Vaccination Holiday Package to Singapore.

Currently, PRC pass-holder cannot travel to China with mRNA vaccine (for those who don't know).

I didn't know that. I thought their citizens can return (personally know one or two who did), but have to pay for the quarantine.

Only those former-PRC-now-new-citizen is LL, no longer can travel there for now, because branded a foreigner.

Edited June 2, 2021 by Sosaria

[RH1667]

If i have taken Pfizer vaccine, can i still take the China vaccine? any harm / negative effect ? 

Not sure still valid, but seems like if take China vaccine, go China no need quarantine, right ?  

[inlinesix]

Just now, Sosaria said:

I didn't know that. I thought their citizens can return (personally know one or two who did), but have to pay for the quarantine.

Only those former-PRC-now-new-citizen is LL, no longer can travel there for now.

My friend return to Singapore for CNY holiday wanted to take vaccination prior to going back to China.

Take already cannot go back to China.

Have to take it in China.

[CremornePt]

One of my colleagues (SC, ex-PRC) went to Shanghai a few months ago for a family emergency - 2 weeks of quarantine, otherwise no problem getting in.

He told me the 2 week quarantine facilities sucked big time btw.

Edited June 2, 2021 by CremornePt

[Weez911]

10 hours ago, Lethalstrike said:

I think all this talk about opening up and embracing a "new normal" in his own words is fine, but the caveat is that they have to pull their weight into ensuring at least a few things are done right first, 

1. A robust test / quarantine regime for all foreigners (regardless of STVP, WP,DP etc) with vigilance to developing high risk regions

2. A robust series of SOPs to ensure zero lapses at the immigrations (Changi Airport, Woodlands and Tuas customs)

We look at other types of endemic diseases such as Chickenpox, Malaria, TB, HIV and flu - I don't think there are additional measures against the prevention of these diseases at all. In fact, our lives go on pretty much normally with these endemic diseases.

Covid is different. It is a very special situation because the virus is still raging throughout the world affecting billions of people (pandemic). If a super open country like us decides to remove all the key Covid measures (quarantine, mask, social distancing) in the middle of the pandemic and only rely on testing and contact tracing, then I think we will still be screwed with hospitalisation rate (locals + visitors) and deaths, because we cannot control the hordes of infected individuals from overseas.

[Ender]

For those who want the China 'using killed virus' method, can have a look at sinopharm. From reports,  efficacy ranged from 72% to 78%.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-27/china-s-sinopharm-publishes-awaited-covid-vaccine-study-details

[CremornePt]

1 minute ago, Weez911 said:

If a super open country like us decides to remove all the key Covid measures (quarantine, mask, social distancing) in the middle of the pandemic and only rely on testing and contact tracing, then I think we will still be screwed with hospitalisation rate (locals + visitors) and deaths, because we cannot control the hordes of infected individuals from overseas.

I dont' think anyone's suggesting removing quarantine, masks & social distancing anytime soon. We're looking at the global post-vaccination endgame, likely in 1-3 years time.

What we're concerned with is what comes after widespread immunity. (vaccine or otherwise)

[inlinesix]

6 minutes ago, CremornePt said:

One of my colleagues (SC, ex-PRC) went to Shanghai a few months ago for a family emergency - 2 weeks of quarantine, otherwise no problem getting in.

He told me the 2 week quarantine facilities sucked big time btw.

I was told 14 days of quarantine + 7 days of stay home notice in March 2021

[Picnic06-Biante15]

15 minutes ago, Sosaria said:

Chinese-made vaccines are gold standard for them  After all, as far as can be seen, lots of their countrymen have been vaccinated with domestically-produced vaccines and the figures show it is effective. You can see now that PRC is in better shape than us now, ironically, since we are still having to wear masks everywhere - while over there they can crowd tourist attractions and go clubbing etc. - back to normal life.

B'cos PRC do not have BTO projects and don't allowed "South Asia" to visit 'relatives' there ....

Edited June 2, 2021 by Picnic06-Biante15

[Picnic06-Biante15]

13 minutes ago, RH1667 said:

If i have taken Pfizer vaccine, can i still take the China vaccine? any harm / negative effect ? 

Not sure still valid, but seems like if take China vaccine, go China no need quarantine, right ?  

You can if you need 'double' the protections ....

Let us know the outcome after taking the second vaccine from China.....

We will follow you after your FR ...