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So I just read these two articles consecutively. Very reassuring lol. One wrong move, and there goes the whole of China all over again. ST: Despite official figures, Wuhan continues to find new asymptomatic coronavirus cases daily https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/east-asia/despite-official-figures-wuhan-continues-to-find-new-asymptomatic-coronavirus-cases?utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=STFB&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2zuDoEfkCBbQWkN5vNLkOy_G0SmzFAiEaWILxFA7G44OexYRFN2uE_a38#Echobox=1585025147 CNA: COVID-19: China to lift travel curbs on Hubei province, including Wuhan https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/china-coovid19-coronavirus-lift-travel-curbs-hubei-wuhan-12570658?cid=FBcna Here's the two articles: ST: Despite official figures, Wuhan continues to find new asymptomatic coronavirus cases daily BEIJING (CAIXIN GLOBAL) - Despite official figures reporting few to no new domestic Covid-19 cases on the Chinese mainland in recent days, authorities continue to detect more infections, with those in the city at the heart of the country's outbreak often amounting to more than a dozen a day, Caixin has learned. According to a member of the infectious disease prevention and control team in Wuhan, every day the city continues to record "several or more than a dozen asymptomatic infected individuals", which are people that have tested positive for Covid-19, but do not feel ill and are excluded from published numbers. As of Sunday (March 22), Hubei province, where Wuhan is located, had four consecutive days of zero new "confirmed cases." The person, who asked not to be named, said that these asymptomatic people are found by tracing the contacts of others who are infected and by screening quarantine workers who are at high risk of infection, as opposed to en masse testing. "It's not possible at the moment to tell if transmission has stopped," the person said. As reported new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 have dwindled, China has moved to send home the teams of medical personnel it brought in from across the country to assist hospital workers in Hubei. Between March 17 and 20, some 12,000 medical personnel departed the province. But the infectious disease prevention and control team has stayed behind, after Hubei's provincial Covid-19 task force on Friday ordered it to remain until central authorities say otherwise, Caixin has learned. According to a person at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, this team of specialists was kept in Hubei because the central government continues to feel unease about the situation in the area, in part because of the presence of asymptomatic individuals. Since February, the Covid-19 prevention and control policies issued by the National Health Commission (NHC) have stipulated that asymptomatic infected individuals are not considered "confirmed cases" and that their numbers should not be released. However, given numerous studies suggesting that this group is infectious, the NHC has required that, once detected, they be subject to a 14-day quarantine and lab testing, recategorising them as "confirmed" cases only in the event they develop symptoms. Caixin previously obtained data that showed Northeast China's Heilongjiang province had 480 "confirmed cases" on Feb 25, but had also discovered 104 asymptomatic infected individuals that it left off the public tally. A March 6 preprint - a study that has not yet been peer-reviewed - by Chinese and American researchers suggested that asymptomatic cases and those with mild symptoms could account for at least 59 per cent of Covid-19 infections, potentially undetected and fuelling its spread. Considering Wuhan is the epicentre of China's epidemic, "there's still a lot that needs to be investigated and traced", the infectious disease prevention and control team member said. CNA: COVID-19: China to lift travel curbs on Hubei province, including Wuhan BEIJING: China's central Hubei province, where the deadly coronavirus first emerged late last year, is to lift travel curbs after two months under lockdown, local officials said on Tuesday (Mar 24). Healthy residents will be allowed to leave the province from midnight Tuesday. Travel restrictions for leaving Wuhan will be lifted on Apr 8, and people will be able to leave on the basis of using a health code The announcement as China reported 78 new cases of the deadly coronavirus on Tuesday, with the vast majority brought in from overseas as fears rise of a second wave of infections. The first new case in nearly a week was also reported in Wuhan - the epicentre where the virus emerged last year - along with three other local infections elsewhere in the country. Seven more people died, the National Health Commission said, all in Wuhan. There have now been more than 81,000 cases in China, and the death toll has reached 3,277. As the country tries to control imported cases, there are signs of normality beginning to return to Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province. Travel and work restrictions in the province have been gradually eased and Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first visit to Wuhan earlier this month. Wuhan residents considered healthy can now move around the city and take public transport if they show identification, and they can also go back to work if they have a permit from their employer.

+47 (33 import)

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.

Having been very much involved in the 2003 pandemic outbreak, which spread across >35 countries and killing almost 800 people, I do not wish to see any diseases of such kind in my life again. I was one of the member in MOH committee to map out the quarantine and employee health screening requirement, and at the same time working closely with MOM and our regional team to map out the pandemic response plan, which include splitting functional team into 2 or more groups, to be stationed in different offices. I can tell you that everyone, including personnel from MOH and MOM, are clueless as to what is the best approach, so every suggestion and reasoning counts. One of my colleague was infected when he went to SGH for his regular medical checkup and died a few days later. The saddest part is that none of us were able to send him off (he was in fact cremated on the same day for fear of spreading the virus further). Dr Alexandre Chao, the only son of Professor Chao Tzee Cheng (renowned forensic pathologist in Singapore), was one of the 33 who died from severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), while serving in a hospital fighting the deadly virus. China probes pneumonia outbreak for Sars links: State media BEIJING (AFP) - China is investigating an outbreak of atypical pneumonia that is suspected of being linked to Sars, the flu-like virus that killed hundreds of people a decade ago, state media reported on Tuesday (Dec 31). A team of experts from the National Health Commission were dispatched on Tuesday to Wuhan, in central China's Hubei province, and are "currently conducting relevant inspection and verification work", state broadcaster CCTV reported. An emergency notification issued on Monday by the Wuhan municipal health committee said hospitals in the city have treated a "successive series of patients with unexplained pneumonia", without offering details. Chinese news site The Paper reported 27 cases of viral pneumonia in Wuhan in December, citing unnamed health officials from the city. "Of the 27 cases, seven were critical, the rest were under control, and two patients are expected to be discharged from hospital in near future," The Paper said. It is unclear whether all these patients are suspected of having contracted severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars), a highly contagious respiratory disease. The emergency notification has urged hospitals to offer treatment and report cases in a "timely manner".

With the Haji coming next month, millions of muslim will vist Saudi, how are WHO going to control it? http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp...1228229/1/.html GENEVA: The UN health agency said on Wednesday it knew of no more cases in the Gulf of a mystery illness from the same virus family as the deadly SARS but was advising Saudi Arabia ahead of the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage. "WHO is working closely with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as in previous years, to support the country's health measures for all visitors participating in the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca next month," the World Health Organization said in a statement. The Geneva-based agency earlier confirmed that the illness was in the coronavirus family and had caused the death of a Saudi national. It has also left a Qatari man seriously ill in a London hospital after he was transferred there from Doha earlier this month, the WHO said, adding that he had previously been in Saudi Arabia. The two cases occurred three months apart in June and September, said the WHO, stressing that the illness is not Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome which swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide. What sets the new virus apart from SARS, the agency added, is that it causes rapid kidney failure. Meanwhile, pilgrims have already begun to arrive in the Saudi kingdom for the ritual that represents the world's largest annual gathering. Last year, nearly three million Muslim pilgrims performed the Hajj, which represents one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed at least once in a lifetime by all Muslims who are able to do so. Saudi health authorities have downplayed the chances of an outbreak of the mystery illness, adding that there were no changes on travel conditions for pilgrims. Meanwhile, a Danish hospital said on Wednesday it had isolated five people with symptoms of a viral respiratory illness pending the result of tests. Odense University hospital said those admitted were a family of four where the father had been to Saudi Arabia, and an unrelated person who had been to Qatar. Two of the patients were children under five. SARS swept out of China in 2003, killing more than 800 people worldwide.

I just stepped into NYP @ 8am and i was faced with temperature scanners, special walkways, and stickers to don. It just brings me back to the SARS period. De javu man. Sheesh! I pray we won't die. I still want to live on seh!

New disease outbreaks in China; 12K children infected By HENRY SANDERSON

Originally Posted by kcorplegal I am residing very near Tampines MRT and we distinctly heard a very loud noise, loud enough to wake us up from our sleep. Please don't cover up on this issue and make a bigger idiots of yourselves. You have made Singaporeans to look very stupid all these years so much so foreigners staying here has branded us to be "SARS" "Singaporeans Are Really Stupid" You should know why so many Singaporeans migrated !! new interpretation of SARS from the following posted Straits Times online on the SMRT shut-down