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It's now 2024, and Covid is still with us. People don't go into a frenzy now, and there are no toilet roll runs, but the fear is still around, just in variable amounts and in different intensities. I doubt that anyone could have imagined this back in 2021 or even 2020.. So what's new in 2024? 1 - Our current flavor? BA. 2.86 or JN. 1 There are still vaccines, and they tell us it covers this strain 2 - it is unlikely that we will close down and have a circuit breaker, just because of the economic costs, rather than any health advice 3 - masks are still required in health care settings, elsewhere, it's up to you 4- are there any positives? I think there are some small ones: - the whole home delivery industry took off, especially food delivery - we now have an ability to work from home, well not everyone, but many - some of us respect those in the healthcare industry more - we have become more health aware of viruses, transmission, infection and hygiene.. we may not be more hygienic, but we are more aware of what it takes to get infected - some of us have decided to live life differently and not take life for granted - others still have a stockpile of toilet rolls, medication, and of course masks Who still keeps a ton of masks at home? I do, from surgical, to cloth and of course N95 ones. I still have sanitizers all over the home and use alcohol to wipe surfaces like keyboards and phones.. How has your life changed?

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/120-bus-captains-across-seven-interchanges-infected-with-covid-19-so-far-lta A total of 120 bus captains have been infected with Covid-19 so far, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA) which is working with public transport operators to minimise the impact on services. The number of clusters involving bus interchanges has grown to seven after the first two - at Bishan and Sengkang - were announced on Aug 14. An LTA spokesman told The Straits Times on Monday (Aug 30) that there are currently 23 infected bus captains in the Bishan cluster and 14 in the Sengkang one. Two new clusters - identified on Aug 26 - currently involve 33 bus captains at the Toa Payoh interchange, and 13 at the Punggol one. Another three clusters - announced over the last three days - currently involve nine bus captains in the Clementi interchange, 15 in the Jurong East interchange and 13 in the Boon Lay interchange. According to the Ministry of Health (MOH) website, another 54 cases - staff from these interchanges and their contacts- are also linked to the seven clusters. The LTA spokesman said many of the cases were picked up early and clusters isolated as a result of community surveillance testing and proactive regular testing. Of the 120 infected bus captains, four were unvaccinated. The rest are fully inoculated, and most are asymptomatic or showing only mild symptoms. Overall, 99 per cent of front-line public transport workers have completed their first dose of the vaccine, and over 95 per cent are fully inoculated, said the spokesman. Asked what is being done to ensure commuter safety at bus interchanges, he added: "Once a cluster at a public transport node is detected, deep cleaning and disinfection is carried at the location as well as on all affected buses and common facilities. This is in addition to the stepped up cleaning regime that operators have put in place since last year." Safe management measures are also strictly enforced, and in light of the recent developments, workers will have to take their meals and smoke breaks alone even if they are fully vaccinated, said the spokesman. He added that the authorities are monitoring the situation closely and will work with the operators to make further adjustments where necessary. ===================== Oof, everyone should be more careful when they visit bus interchanges during this period! 😞 It's so scary how asymptomatic cases can spread so quickly over a short amount of time. Stay safe guys! 😥

SINGAPORE - A 90-year-old man who was fully vaccinated but had a history of chronic kidney disease and hypertension died from Covid-19 complications on Tuesday (Aug 17), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said. He is the first fully vaccinated person to die from issues linked to Covid-19 in Singapore. The man developed symptoms on July 29 and tested positive for Covid-19 on Aug 1 as part of community surveillance testing. On Aug 2, he developed shortness of breath and giddiness and was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital where he was admitted directly to the intensive care unit for septic shock from Covid-19 pneumonia. He had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, but was advanced in age and had a history of chronic kidney disease and hypertension, said MOH in its daily update. In total, 45 people have died from complications due to the Covid-19 infection. No new clusters were announced on Tuesday. The cluster linked to a dormitory located at 43 Sungei Kadut Loop grew to 14, with one new case added to its tally. There were a total of 56 new infections reported on Tuesday and, of these, 52 were locally transmitted. Of the local cases, 35 were linked to previous cases and already quarantined and another three linked cases were not in quarantine when they tested positive. A total of 14 cases remain unlinked. Four imported cases were detected and isolated upon arrival in Singapore. MOH also said six clusters have been closed. With that, there are now 93 active clusters, ranging between three and 1,155 infections. MOH also said the number of new cases in the community has fallen from 481 the week before to 322 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases has decreased from 135 to 91 in the same period. Currently, 404 patients are in hospital. Most are well and under observation, said MOH. Of them, 30 require oxygen supplementation, while six are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Of the seriously ill, 31 are seniors aged above 60, and of them, 25 are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. MOH said there is continuing evidence that almost all fully vaccinated individuals do not suffer serious disease when infected, unless they have underlying medical conditions that make them more susceptible. Over the past 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated people who became severely ill or died was 9.6 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated was 1.4 per cent, the ministry added. On the country's vaccination progress, MOH said 76 per cent of Singapore's population were fully vaccinated as at Monday, while 82 per cent had received at least one dose. A total of 8,464,972 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme, covering 4,440,268 people, with 4,155,680 people having completed the full vaccination regimen. In addition, 151,089 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organisation's Emergency Use Listing have been administered, covering 83,968 people. =============== It's sad to hear this after putting in so much effort to persuade our elderly population to take the vaccine 😞 Condolences to the family.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/moh-to-stop-giving-details-of-covid-19-community-cases SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) will no longer disclose details of each new Covid-19 case detected in the community as the country moves towards a new phase of battling the pandemic, it said in a statement on Tuesday (June 29). Information on individuals' ages and occupations, as well as the places they visited and the dates on which they tested positive, will not be provided. Instead, the ministry's daily virus update will now detail the progress made in the nationwide vaccination scheme, in addition to daily case numbers. It will also give a breakdown of the number of people who have developed a severe form of the disease, and their vaccination status. This decision was made by the multi-ministry task force tackling the pandemic, MOH said, adding that there will now be "a strong focus on preventing the virus from spreading, vaccinating our population and starting the process to transit to a new normal" as the country moves into a new phase of its fight against Covid-19. "Besides daily numbers, we will include information on the key trends of the local situation, clusters we are monitoring, progress of vaccination and the number of people who suffered a severe form of the disease," it said. About 3.28 million people in Singapore have received at least one dose of the vaccine since Dec 30 last year, with about 5.38 million doses administered so far. This means that 57.5 per cent of Singapore's population has been partially vaccinated, while 36.8 per cent - or about 2.1 million people - have had the full two-dose regimen. As at noon on Tuesday, 49,445 more people had received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine while another 5,298 were given their second dose under the national vaccination programme. In Tuesday's statement, MOH noted that there is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease in those who have been infected. Over the last 28 days, a total of 23 local cases required oxygen, were admitted to the intensive care unit, or died. Of this group, 20 were unvaccinated, while two were partially vaccinated. The remaining patient was fully vaccinated but had already been ill before contracting the disease, MOH said. A total of 129 coronavirus patients were hospitalised as at Tuesday. Most of them were well and under observation. Three were in critical condition in the intensive care unit. All three are over 60 years old and unvaccinated. Read the full MOH press release here. How some other countries report virus figures Japan Local municipalities release Covid-19 data, mostly at the prefecture level, but sometimes cities will issue their own figures. The notices are put up on official prefecture or municipal websites and usually include numbers on daily infections and deaths, and how the infections occurred. The domestic media will then tabulate the figures to come up with the overall number of cases and deaths for each day. Thailand The Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) reports daily cases, deaths and people discharged from hospitals through televised press briefings that are also streamed on social media. Domestic and imported case numbers, as well as those in the community and prisons, new clusters and vaccination rates are also given. CCSA also provides a breakdown of domestic infection numbers in all provinces, and lists the top 10 provinces with highest infection numbers. Previously, the information came from various sources such as the Public Health Ministry, the provincial authorities and the Prime Minister’s Office, but this has been streamlined with CCSA providing the updates. Malaysia The Ministry of Health gives a breakdown of daily new cases, deaths and clusters, according to states. It will also disclose any links between cases, how patients were infected and if they involve variants of concern. The information is contained in daily press statements and postings on the ministry’s social media sites. The ministry also provides a weekly report, which is normally released on Mondays. The method of reporting has evolved from daily press briefings by the health director-general to just statements being issued, unless there are important announcements or huge spikes in cases. Australia The Department of Health provides the numbers of local and imported cases, and cases under investigation in the last 24 hours on its website and social media platforms. It gives the total number of active and hospitalised cases, and tests conducted in the last 24 hours. It also provides an overall number of cases, deaths and tests conducted since the start of the pandemic. In addition, it gives daily data on the status of Australia’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, which includes a detailed infographic and breakdown of vaccine doses administered across Australia. South Korea The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Health Ministry release data on new and total confirmed cases, deaths, quarantine numbers and total tests performed. They also report new and total cases found in various major cities and provinces, as well as daily and total vaccination rates. All these are further broken down into gender and age groups, types of vaccines administered, details about major clusters, infection routes and an analysis of trends. The information is issued in daily press statements from as early as 9am, while health officials conduct daily briefings at 11am and 2pm, which are shown live on TV. The information is also posted on websites managed by various health district offices and alerts are also sent directly to mobile phones. Indonesia The Covid-19 mitigation task force releases new and total numbers of confirmed and recovered cases, and fatalities at national and provincial levels. It also reports new and total numbers of samples tested, the positivity rate, the number of people tested, the spread of overall active cases, daily and total vaccination figures, and the number of those getting their first and second jabs. The information is broadcast to journalists’ WhatsApp groups as well as posted on social media and the websites of regional governments and the task force.

Is this why SG news started referring to it as "South Asian"? India asks social media firms to remove reference to 'Indian variant' of coronavirus India's information technology (IT) ministry has written to all social media companies asking them to take down any content that refers to an "Indian variant" of the coronavirus, according to a letter issued on Friday which was seen by Reuters. The World Health Organization said on May 11 that the coronavirus variant B.1.617, first identified in India last year, was being classified as a variant of global concern. The Indian government a day later issued a statement saying media reports using the term "Indian Variant" were without any basis, saying the WHO had classified the variant as just B.1.617. In a letter to social media companies on Friday, the IT ministry asked the companies to "remove all the content" that names or implies "Indian variant" of the coronavirus. "This is completely FALSE. There is no such variant of Covid-19 scientifically cited as such by the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO has not associated the term 'Indian Variant' with the B.1.617 variant of the coronavirus in any of its reports," stated the letter, which is not public. A senior Indian government source told Reuters the notice was issued to send a message "loud and clear" that such mentions of "Indian variant" spread miscommunication and hurt the country's image. https://sg.news.yahoo.com/india-asks-social-media-firms-171808844.html

[Updated: May 19, 1200hrs: The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Singapore has issued a response. You can read it here.] The Chief Minister of India's capital territory, Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal has called for a ban on flights with Singapore. According to the Hindustan Times (HT), Kejriwal had tweeted that a new variant of Covid-19 which is "found in Singapore" was apparently "extremely dangerous" for children and could result in a third wave of infections within India. The B.1.617 variant was first detected in India. However, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing said that while the B.1.617 strain appears to be more virulent, none of the children who were infected are seriously ill. In appealing to the country's central government, Kejriwal said that air services with Singapore should be cancelled with immediate effect, while options for the vaccination of children should be prioritised. Kejriwal is a member of the Aam Admi Party, different from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their erstwhile main opposition, the Indian National Congress. While Kejriwal's comments were reported on other English-language news media in India as well, such as The Hindu, NDTV, and The Economic Times, HT is the only outlet that used the term "Singapore virus". Other Indian citizens replied to the minister's tweet, pointing out that the B.1.617 strain is the same one first detected in India. Since April 24, all long-term pass holders and short-term visitors with recent travel history to India within the last 14 days, including transit, are not allowed entry into or to transit through Singapore. Hindustan Times: India's capital is showing "signs of recovery" HT further highlighted that Kejriwal's warning was given amidst "signs of recovery" in India's capital and pointed to how the number of cases in Delhi had fallen from 28,000 in April to less than 5,000 on May 17. However, the overall national situation, according to international media outlets, is less sunny. Reuters reported that the number of cases in India surged past the 25 million mark on May 18, with 263,533 new infections in the past 24 hours. A record number of deaths were also seen, at 4,329. In addition, while official reports show lower numbers of new infections, there are fears that the new B.1.617 variant, first discovered in India is now out of control, with cases in rural areas unreported due to a lack of testing. Rural India hit hard by Covid-19 A similar picture of the situation was also given by Bloomberg which, drawing on interviews with people from over 18 towns and villages, reported that whole families are being "wiped out" by the virus in rural areas while bodies of Covid-19 victims have been found floating in the Ganges river. Here, Bloomberg gave the example of Basi, a village about 1.5 hours away from New Delhi, where 5,400 people, or three-quarters of its inhabitants, are sick with Covid-19, while more than 30 people having died from the virus in the past three weeks. In highlighting the lack of healthcare facilities, doctors and oxygen-related supplies in the village, the village's head of the farming community was quoted as saying: Criticism of PM Modi's handling of the crisis grows In the meantime, criticism has been growing over the government's management of the Covid-19 crisis by India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. The Economist pointed out that there has been a noticeable drop in Modi's media presence, with his few public appearances consisting of a focus on the government's achievements. The Straits Times compared Modi's visibility in 2020, decisively implementing a lockdown and calling on citizens to follow restrictions, as opposed to his somewhat less widespread visibility now. Modi's popularity rating has plunged from 74 per cent at the end of March to 65 per cent, according to U.S.-based Morning Consult, a data metrics company.

New level of detection and surveillance https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/nus-hostel-residents-to-be-swabbed-after-covid-19-rna-found-in-wastewater

This Circuit Breaker has sure been giving us lots of funny and interesting events. I mean, we aren't even sure whether we should find this cool or silly. We spotted this video on ROADS.sg's website where a man has been caught 'skiing' on our public roads at around 5.40pm on 5th of May. Obviously the wet roads aren't the issue here as the short video clip demonstrates the 'skiier’ easily maneuvering around traffic. We reckon everyone along Raffles Quay would be either impressed or annoyed as he can be seen holding on to what looked like a pair of ski poles. ROADS.sg then suggested that the roller ski could be similar to what was worn by the people in the following photo. 1.mp4