Update 20 Sep 2021: Singapore’s daily Covid cases breach 1,000 over the weekend — first time since April 2020
Singapore reported more than 1,000 Covid cases for two straight days over the weekend —the first time infections breached that level since April 2020, at the height of the pandemic.
The Southeast Asian country confirmed 1,009 new infections on Saturday, and 1,012 new cases on Sunday, according to data from the health ministry.
That’s the highest number since April 23, 2020 when 1,037 cases were reported. At that time, majority of Singapore’s cases were detected in migrant worker dormitories. Infections hit a record high of 1,426 on April 20, 2020.
S'pore's new Covid-19 cases cross 1,000 mark; unvaccinated man, 90, dies from complications
Singapore saw its 60th Covid-19 fatality when an unvaccinated 90-year-old man died on Friday (Sept 17), said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Saturday.
Singapore also saw more than 1,000 Covid-19 cases on Saturday, with a total of 1,009 new cases reported, the highest daily number since April 23 last year.
The man had a history of cancer, heart disease and pneumonia and was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on Friday with symptoms, and tested positive for Covid-19 infection that day.
related:
Singapore reports 1,004 new local COVID-19 cases; 90-year-old man is the latest fatality
Singapore's daily count of local COVID-19 cases has topped 1,000, after three consecutive days of increases. A total of 1,004 new locally transmitted infections were reported as of noon on Saturday (Sep 18).
There were also five imported cases, taking Singapore's daily tally to 1,009. This is the highest number since Apr 23 last year, when there were 1,037 cases.
As of Saturday, Singapore has reported a total of 76,792 COVID-19 cases and 60 deaths from the disease.
related:
A Perfect Storm for an Outbreak
“They’ve contained the coronavirus. Here’s how,” read the New York Times headline on a piece about best responses to COVID-19. Alongside Hong Kong and Taiwan, Singapore was held up as a model for the rest of the world.
That was March 13, when Singapore had 200 confirmed cases of COVID-19. It’s a wildly different situation now. As of the time of writing, Singapore has confirmed 11,178 cases of the coronavirus.
The main reason for this skyrocketing figure has been the discovery of the virus spreading like wildfire within dormitories housing migrant workers. Over 80% of the country’s COVID-19 cases are migrant workers living in dormitories. In the dormitory with the largest cluster thus far, over 15% of the population of 13,000 men have tested positive. The resulting scramble to contain this tsunami of infections has highlighted uncomfortable truths about the city-state’s treatment of the men who built it.
Labour Day Statement by Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics
Statement on 1 May 2020 by Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics, Singapore’s non-governmental organisation that provides services to, and advocates on behalf of, migrant workers
This year’s Labour Day falls in the midst of a global pandemic that has disproportionately affected low-wage migrant workers here in Singapore.
As of 29 April 2020, approximately 88% of all the 15,641 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Singapore are work permit holders, the majority of whom are residing in dormitories. The outpouring of monetary donations and volunteering efforts that have gone towards helping these migrant workers is heartwarming but has also exposed structural issues that exacerbated the impacts of a pandemic on the most vulnerable among us.
A rights-based framework should determine how they are treated, instead of an over-fixation on cost-benefit analyses. We cannot lose our humanity in the pursuit of economic growth and prosperity – so-called ‘policy trade-offs’ are often done at the expense of the welfare of those who are marginalised, with detrimental effects to their physical and mental well-being.
Coronavirus cases in Singapore: What we know so far
The number of coronavirus cases in Singapore has grown to 17,101, with an additional 932 new cases reported on May 1.
The majority of these cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories. Five Singaporeans and permanent residents are among the cases confirmed on Friday, May 1.
As of April 30, an additional 56 patients have been discharged, bringing the total cases recovered to 1,244. Among those who have yet to recover, 22 are in critical condition.
Parliament: About half of dorm operators flout licensing conditions each year, says Josephine Teo
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said accommodation standards for migrant workers have become better over the years, but acknowledged that further improvements can be made. PHOTO: MOM
About 20 purpose-built dormitories for foreign workers breach dormitory licence conditions each year, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo.
This amounts to nearly half of the 43 such dormitories regulated under the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act (Feda), which together house some 200,000 workers.
An average of 1,200 employers a year have also been punished for providing unacceptable accommodation for their workers, said Mrs Teo, responding to questions from MPs, including Workers' Party MP Png Eng Huat (Hougang), who asked about the virus outbreak among foreign workers.
Two weeks and a 70-fold increase
What was a marginal contributor to Singapore's COVID-19 situation has quickly become the source of the majority of infections: Of the 4,427 cases here, more than 2,600 can be traced to migrant worker dormitories.
A record 728 new cases were reported on Thursday (Apr 16), with 654 of those infected living at worker dormitories. The number of dormitories with infections has grown to more than 25.
The Health Ministry's charts show that the cases among work permit holders and dormitory residents began climbing from Apr 1 even as the number infected in the community flattened and imported cases fell to zero - there have been no imported cases in Singapore for a week.
Dormitory Infections Push Singapore Covid-19 Cases to New Record
Singapore reported its highest daily increase of coronavirus cases on Wednesday as infections engulfed more dormitories housing low-wage foreign workers.
Authorities said an additional 447 cases were confirmed as of noon Wednesday, bringing the total to 3,699 in the country. Of the new cases, more than 400 infections -- about 90% -- are tied to facilities that house migrant workers in close quarters, according to a government statement. Workers in about 20 dormitories have been affected by the virus outbreak in Singapore, according to a Bloomberg analysis of government data.
The city-state is grappling with a pace of infections that’s picking up among workers staying in the dormitories, at a time when it appears to be stabilizing elsewhere across the country. The government has tightened entry rules, mandated masks, poured billions of dollars into the economy and imposed a weeks-long partial lockdown to contain the outbreak.
related:
Thousands in Dorms Pose New Test in Singapore Virus Fight
S'pore Has Worst Day in Outbreak as Cases Double Over a Week
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Expert: Dormitories could see 10,000 to 20,000 infections in April
Dormitories continue to make up a huge majority of new cases in Singapore.
A record 447 new cases were confirmed on April 15, of which 404 were work permit holders residing in dorms.
Associate Professor Alex Cook from the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore discusses the twin challenge that Singapore faces - one involving the dorms and the other is the local community spread.
related: Dorm cases push Singapore cases to new record
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In Singapore, migrant coronavirus cases highlight containment weak link
As Singapore wins global plaudits for its handling of the coronavirus, the disease has spread rapidly within its large migrant worker community, highlighting what rights groups say is a weak link in the city state’s containment efforts.
Singapore has managed to mitigate the spread of the disease among its citizens by rigorous contact tracing and surveillance, earning praise from the World Health Organization. Infections within the migrant community, however, are mounting. As of April 14, out of 3,252 cases recorded in Singapore, 1,625 were linked to outbreaks in migrant worker dormitories.
Rights groups, charities and medical experts had flagged the potential for mass infection among the more than 300,000 migrant workers living in often cramped and unsanitary conditions in the wealthy country of 5.7 million. But some of Singapore’s early policy responses did not account for this vulnerable community, according to rights groups and volunteer organisations.
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90% of new cases in dorms as testing is stepped up
Almost 90 per cent of the new coronavirus cases announced yesterday were foreign workers living in dormitories.
They made up 654 of the latest daily high of 728 cases the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed as of noon yesterday, with two more large purpose-built dorms and three other factory converted dorms emerging as new clusters.
This takes the total number of foreign workers linked to dorms who have tested positive for Covid-19 to 2,689 - about 60 per cent of Singapore's current count of 4,427 cases.
related:
Virus cases hit new high of 728, with spread mainly in dorms
3-pronged strategy in place to stop coronavirus spread in dorms
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Singapore's migrant workers are suffering the brunt of the country's coronavirus outbreak
The balcony of a migrant worker dormitory, now locked down, in Singapore on April 17
Rubel, a 28-year-old migrant worker in Singapore, is afraid. The dormitory he and other foreign workers live in has been locked down, and nobody is allowed in or out as government officials scramble to contain the country's novel coronavirus outbreak.
In recent weeks, the Asian city-state has had a dramatic spike in coronavirus infections, with thousands of new cases linked to clusters in foreign worker dormitories. To control the spread, the government has attempted to isolate the dormitories, test workers and move symptomatic patients into quarantine facilities. But those measures have left hundreds of thousands of workers trapped in their dormitories, living cheek by jowl in cramped conditions that make social distancing near impossible.
Singapore is home to about 1.4 million migrant workers who come largely from South and Southeast Asia. As housekeepers, domestic helpers, construction workers and manual laborers, these migrants are essential to keeping Singapore functioning -- but are also some of the lowest paid and most vulnerable people in the city.
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‘Clean city-state’ image of Singapore shows double-standards in its treatment of migrants in times of COVID-19
Singapore has been consistently praised in global news reports for its approach in containing the spread of COVID-19. But since the first week of April 2020, the country has recorded a sharp rise in cases affecting mainly foreign workers. This situation has raised concern about possible neglect by the Singaporean government about migrant workers in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 7, the government announced the imposition of a ‘circuit breaker’ which practically placed the whole country and its 5.7 million population under lockdown. Singapore's Health Minister stated that:
We need to apply brakes, hard brakes, to slow the transmission. This is what we mean by a circuit breaker. Enhanced safe distancing is necessary to significantly reduce movement and interactions in both public and private places.On April 21, the prime minister declared that the ‘circuit breaker’ will be extended until June 1. As of April 24, Singapore recorded 12,075 COVID-19 cases, almost 80 percent of these are migrant workers who live in foreign worker dormitories. Singapore now has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia, although the government claims this figure is high due to its extensive and aggressive testing.
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Singapore firms and workers should seek new normal
Timely to rethink country's over-reliance on foreign workers as spotlight falls on them
The movement of the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic from the local populace to the migrant worker community has sparked an intense debate on the subject of Singapore's dependence on foreign workers.
Singapore has almost 1.4 million people loosely described as foreign workers. These are largely S-pass holders, work permit holders, employment pass holders and domestic helpers. In all, they form 25 per cent of the resident population.
These folk work in virtually every industry: building and construction, transportation and logistics, food and beverage (F&B), retail, manufacturing, health and eldercare, cleaning and sanitation, and more. They hail mainly from Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, the Philippines and China.
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Lee Kuan Yew’s warning about foreign workers
I was tagged by Yeoh Lam Keong to a facebook photo which quoted Lee Kuan Yew in 2010:
- “In five years, you will have 120,000 work-permit holders .. in 10 years, a quarter million. Is it bearable?
- Maybe if they were from our traditional sources: with Malaysians there are minimal cultural and language problems. Last year, however, because there were not enough Malaysians, we started to move further afield and took work-permit holders from Thailand, from Sri Lanka, from India, from Bangladesh. They are good workers. They are hungry, they are lean, they are keen… But I have a responsibility to you. In 10 years, can we digest so many? There will be cultural, linguistic, social and political problems.”
70% of new bus captains are local? After reading the above, I read the article “70 per cent of new bus captains are local” (Straits Times, Jul 25).
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Lam Keong Yeoh is with Leong Sze Hian 24 July 2017
Wise advice by LKY not followed at our own policy peril for not just 10 but 20 years. At least DPM Tharman has publicly re-iterated this clearly recently. Now see if we can indeed actually stabilize our long term population at " well below 6.9 million " stated by the PM at the parliamentary discussion of the infamous White Paper.
IMHO to actually achieve this, we need clear, publicly transparent annual immigration quotas like most developed countries that have managed immigration a lot more sensibly. And they have mostly done so with decent overall and better productivity growth. So can we. We studied this carefully in the Institute of Policy Studies several years ago where I lead the manpower sub group. Please see manpower/labour chapter in: http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg/…/2014/09/POS2050_Web_Final_300914…
Allowing immigration to be fundamentally driven more by companies demands for foreign labour leaves this vital outcome hostage to the vagaries of the market combined with ad hoc official decisions. This potentially compromises not just our long term quality of life and social fabric and real wage growth but also ultimately our national identity. Incredibly, this discussion on what our first generation leaders were keenly aware of was sadly missing in the government White paper on population policy. Let's finally learn this important policy lesson and put our policy money where our official mouth is.
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“A wholly Singaporean workforce” by 1991: LKY’s target in 1982
“A wholly Singaporean workforce without any work permit holder at all by 1991.” No, that is not a slogan of a protest campaign. It was, in fact, the aim of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew, in 1982. Mr Lee, who passed away in 2015, had announced the 10-year target in his New Year Message that year.
“Workers we want to retain beyond 1990 should be those who will raise our level of productivity,” the prime minister said. “We shall give such workers permanent residence with a view to citizenship. Then we shall have a more homogenous workforce, working together as a team, because they all feel committed to Singapore. Then the principle, from each his best, to each his worth, which has been the basis of our progress, will work under optimal conditions.” He said that “nations which used immigrant labour to do their heavy and tough jobs have inherited grave social problems.”
He then cited the Japanese as an example which Singapore could follow. “They have no social problems or riots. Instead, they have high productivity from their homogenous workforce,” Mr Lee said. The Prime Minister’s plan was to stop all work permits from 1983.
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LEE KUAN YEW WANTED ALL S'POREAN WORKFORCE BY 1991. WHAT HAPPENED?
In a 10 year plan announced during the new year in 1982, then-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew spoke of having a fully Singaporean workforce that was not dependent on foreigners by 1991. His message: “A wholly Singaporean workforce without any work permit holder at all by 1991." “Workers we want to retain beyond 1990 should be those who will raise our level of productivity,” the late Mr Lee said. “We shall give such workers permanent residence with a view to citizenship. Then we shall have a more homogenous workforce, working together as a team, because they all feel committed to Singapore. Then the principle, from each his best, to each his worth, which has been the basis of our progress, will work under optimal conditions.”
In an ominous warning to those who would disregard his advice, he said “nations which used immigrant labour to do their heavy and tough jobs have inherited grave social problems." Citing the Japanese as an example, he praised their system which resulted in "no social problems or riots. Instead, they have high productivity from their homogenous workforce." The Prime Minister had planned to stop all work permits from 1983, except for the construction, shipyards and domestics industries. To make up for the labour shortfall, he suggested that Singapore married women be employed in "four-hourly shifts" in place of foreign women.
What happened between the years 1982 and 2011? Speculation says that rapid population decline started to rear its head in 1984, causing the People's Action Party to reverse its stance on foreign labor. Now more than 35 years later, Singapore hosts over 2 million foreigners in the country. With companies and even everyday Singaporeans addicted to cheap foreign labor, it has become more difficult for Singapore to restructure its workforce in favor of a local workforce.
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Fewer foreign workers in five years, says MM
FIVE years: this is the time period Singapore will take, from now, to scale back its need for foreign workers. This time frame was given yesterday by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, the first minister to put a time line on the Government's pledge since last year to reduce the inflow of foreign workers. To make up for the dip in foreign workers, the Government will invest in upgrading the skills of the workforce, with contribution from employers, he said, during a dialogue at an international housing conference here.
'The next five years, we have decided we will tier down our need for foreign workers. 'We will pay for help to educate people, continuing education and training, which means a lot of money, probably co-payment with the employer to send him (the worker) for training so that he's paid whilst he's doing the training, then he increases his skill.'
MM Lee was responding to Mr Steven Choo, chief executive of the Real Estate Developers' Association of Singapore, at the event to mark the Housing and Development Board's 50th anniversary this year. Mr Choo had asked Mr Lee if he thought the HDB would be able to catch up with Singaporeans' rising aspirations. The Minister Mentor pointed out that rising aspirations were a worldwide problem, even in wealthy countries such as Switzerland and Finland. Meeting such needs for higher living standards requires a highly skilled and educated workforce and a government that keeps raising their education and skills, he added. Also, it needs to attract 'investments of a higher return or higher value-added investments in products and services'. Said Mr Lee: 'Every government wants to do that. Can it be done? That's the difficult part. You got to motivate your people, raise their standards of education.'
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Heng goes against LKY’s wish to have fewer foreign workers
Nine years ago in 2010, then former Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said at a public dialogue that Singapore should scale back its need for foreign workers (‘Fewer foreign workers in five years, says MM‘, 28 Jan 2010). The founding Prime Minister gave a 5 year time frame to the government to reduce the inflow of foreign workers. To make up for the dip, the government would invest in upgrading the skills of the workforce, he said.
“The next five years, we have decided we will tier down our need for foreign workers,” he said. “We will pay for help to educate people, continuing education and training, which means a lot of money, probably co-payment with the employer to send him (the worker) for training so that he’s paid whilst he’s doing the training, then he increases his skill.” “We’ve grown in the last five years by just importing labour. Now, the people feel uncomfortable, there are too many foreigners,” he noted at the time. “Trains are overcrowded with foreigners, buses too, property prices have gone up because foreigners with permanent residence are buying into the market.”
“The answer is simple: We check the flow of foreigners, raise your productivity, do the job better, so that instead of two workers, eventually you’ll do it with one worker, like the Japanese do.”
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Singapore must stay open to talent and ideas: Heng Swee Keat
Singapore must strive to be a place where talent and ideas congregate, remaining open to the world amid the changing economic and geopolitical landscape, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said yesterday.
"No one group or country has all the ideas or expertise to tackle the many challenges that the world is facing. In a world that is rapidly changing and increasingly interconnected, we need to remain open and collaborate to achieve better outcomes together," he added.
For a city-state like Singapore to thrive, businesses must continue to innovate and internationalise, he said. Also, young people must be given the opportunities to be global-ready, and must acquire a deep knowledge of Asia, for Singapore to truly benefit from Asia's growth as global economic weight is shifting towards the region.
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What happened to the enforcement of the Foreign Employee Dormitories Act? Wasn’t the dorms supposed to have quarantine plans?
Between 19 to 23 April, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has reported 4,914 new positive cases of COVID-19 amongst migrant workers living in dormitories. At the moment, out of the 11,178 cases in Singapore, about 81.2% percent are migrant workers livings in dorms.
While National Development Minister Lawrence Wong asserted in a recent press briefing that the sharp increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases in dorms were due to the increase in testing that is being carried out amongst workers there, the world took notice of this sharp spike. In an instant, Singapore went from being an example and shining beacon for outbreak management in the reason to a cautionary tale.
When cases started to rise amongst the migrant worker population living in dormitories, a spotlight was placed over the living conditions are these dorms, many of which have been declared as isolation areas, meaning that workers are required to stay in their rooms most of the time. In February, the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (HOME) put out a statement to highlight the risks faced by migrant workers during the covid-19 pandemic.
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HOME's concerns about the impact of Covid-19 measures on worker’s rights
HOME acknowledges the need for stringent measures that the government has put in place to contain the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak. However, we are concerned that some migrant workers risk facing harsh punishments, like a permanent ban for breaching government orders, that they may not be fully aware of.
HOME feels it is important to consider the imbalance of power between employers and low wage migrant workers on work permit. Many migrant workers rely on their employers to provide accurate and timely information on government advisories and laws. Indeed, it is the responsibility of employers to keep them informed. It is difficult for workers to be kept up to date on these matters, when most of the announcements are made in languages which the worker may not understand. From HOME’s experience, most workers may not have access to media outlets carrying these messages. If an employer expects a worker to be at work, they may feel obliged to comply for fear of displeasing them or of losing their jobs. If the worker has debts due to recruitment fees, this pressure is intensified. Any penalties meted out should take these circumstances into consideration.
It is also important to note that the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act’s Work Permit Terms and Conditions stipulate that all migrant employees should be paid their basic wages even if an employer does not have any work for them. The Ministry should consider informing workers that they have the right to receive their basic wages during this period.
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Despite Stringent Lockdown Measures, Covid-19 Surges In Singapore With 447 New Cases In A Record Single Day Rise
New Covid-19 cases recorded another daily high on Wednesday (April 15), with the Ministry of Health in Singapore announcing 447 new cases of novel coronavirus, The Strait Times reported. This total number of cases in Singapore surged to 3,699 as of noon on Wednesday. More than 652 infected with the potentially deadly virus staged recovery and were discharged from the hospital.
Dormitories housing foreign migrant workers have emerged as major infection clusters . At least 404 of the 447 new cases are work permit holders residing in dormitories. The S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, Singapore's largest cluster, added another 74 cases, bringing the total to 797. Workers in about 20 dormitories have been affected by the virus outbreak in Singapore.
Close to 80% of Singapore’s workforce is now working from home as the city-state enters its second week of “circuit-breaker” measures, including the closure of schools and most workplaces. The rapid spread of the epidemic in dormitories has raised questions on the much-touted Singapore Model. Thousands of foreign are housed in these dormitories living in close proximity almost making it impossible to implement social distancing measures- one of the key strategies utilized around the world to contain the outbreak’s spread. As part of measures to contain the spread of novel coronavirus, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had announced on Apr 3 a near total lockdown of the country except for essential services.
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Covid-19 circuit breaker to be extended by one month to June 1
The circuit breaker to choke off the spread of the coronavirus will be extended by another month and existing measures will be tightened until May 4, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his fourth national address on the situation.
This means that more workplaces will be closed to further reduce the number of workers keeping essential services going. Some hotspots, such as popular wet markets, remain a problem as large groups of people continue to congregate there, Mr Lee said.
While he noted that the circuit breaker measures have been working, he stressed that Singapore cannot be complacent. He said the number of unlinked cases has not come down, which suggests a "hidden reservoir"ofcases in the community.
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Why Singapore, Once a Model for Coronavirus Response, Lost Control of Its Outbreak
Singapore was once seen as a model for how to hold back the coronavirus. But now the tiny city-state, with a population of 5.6 million, has the most reported coronavirus cases in Southeast Asia. On Monday, officials recorded a new daily record—more than 1,400 additional cases. The number of COVID-19 cases has increased more than two and a half times in the last week, with more than 8,000 total.
Experts say the surge, which began last week, is due largely to local officials underestimating the vulnerability of the city’s migrant workers, who live in cramped dormitories with up to 20 people to a room. Just 16 of the new cases Monday were Singapore citizens or permanent residents. About three-quarters of all cases in Singapore are linked to the workers’ dormitories, according to official figures.
In the early months of the outbreak, Singapore’s response was praised—alongside those in Hong Kong and Taiwan—as a model for how to stop slow the spread of the coronavirus. The World Health Organization (WHO) commended Singapore, citing its widespread testing and comprehensive tracing of close contacts.
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Singapore had a model coronavirus response, then cases spiked. What happened?
Less than a month ago, Singapore was being hailed as one of the countries that had got its coronavirus response right. Encouragingly for the rest of the world, the city-state seemed to have suppressed cases without imposing the restrictive lockdown measures endured by millions elsewhere.
And then the second wave hit, hard. Since March 17, Singapore's number of confirmed coronavirus cases grew from 266 to over 5,900, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. While in the worst-hit countries of western Europe and in the US, thousands of cases are being reported every day, Singapore has a population of 5.7 million people and a total area of around 700 square kilometers -- it is smaller than New York City -- meaning those numbers are more significant.
But Singapore also has advantages that many larger countries don't. It only has one major land border, with Malaysia, and can keep a tight control on people entering by air. It also has a world-class health system and a propensity for somewhat draconian rules and policing that can benefit a government when trying to control a pandemic. So what went wrong?
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One-third of Singapore Covid-19 cases are Bangladeshis
Around one out of three people infected with Covid-19 in the city-state of Singapore are Bangladeshis, as per the high commission tally. Bangladeshi expatriates living in Singapore are getting infected by the coronavirus in large numbers mainly due to their congested living conditions and negligence in relation to social distancing.
As of Wednesday, a total of 3,699 people have been infected in the city-state, according to the Ministry of Health of Singapore. Of them, the majority are migrant workers, including those from Bangladesh, who live in dormitories in congested conditions.
“I am afraid 1,200 to 1,300 Bangladeshis have been infected so far,” Mustafizur Rahman, Bangladesh high commissioner to Singapore, told Dhaka Tribune over the phone on Thursday. The figure estimated by the envoy constitutes around 32-35% of the total infected in the city-state with a population of about 5.7 million.
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Initial praise heaped on Singapore on its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, is now its poisoned chalice as cases spike
Singapore’s initial success at combating the spread of the Corona virus had earned Singapore and its government international praise. This positive attention brought international recognition for Singapore’s status as a rich, efficient and well run first world country. That media scrutiny, however, comes at a price.
Now that Singapore appears to have faltered in keeping COVID-19 in check as cases spike, the world’s media is also broadcasting these developments to an international audience. Cases increasing daily aside, the global press coverage may have also publicised a less favourable side of our pristine nation state — that of how our blue collar foreign labour live and the parallel universe that exists within our shores. Most of the new cases of infection are found within the ranks of our foreign blue collar workers. A large part of why this is the case is because they live in cramped quarters where isolation will be of limited success. Pictures of their quarters have now been published in the international media and makes for uncomfortable viewing.
As the international media dig deeper to uncover how it all began to go wrong for Singapore, it also became apparent that while the government pulled out all the stops for its citizens, permanent residents and white collar employment pass holders, it completely disregarded the blue collar foreigner underclass and now it is this underclass that is exposing the weaknesses in our handling of COVID-19.
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PM Lee asked to apologise over Govt’s handling of Covid-19 outbreak
In an open letter to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, a man has vented his frustration with the way the Covid-19 situation has been handled. Mr Vijayarengan Visvalingam penned the following afterwards on his own page: “Wrote the following on LHL Facebook page. Hope he reads it. Not sure what trouble I will get into. Only time will tell but I feel I was fair in my message to him.”
Mr Visva felt that Hong Kong had managed to do better than Singapore in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic despite being in the midst riots and political unrest.
“It’s fine if you and your government had erred but at least be accountable and apologetic, instead of going on your defence to give excuses. This is not the first time. Each and every time you have messed it up, it’s always going on the defence with excuses,” Mr Visva said.
Singapore activates 'Circuit Breakers' to minimise spread of Covid-19
The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (April 16) announced 728 more cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of infections here to 4,427.
It is the highest single-day jump in infections here, the previous high being the 447 cases that were reported a day before.
In its media statement, MOH said that 654 of the 728 cases are work permit holders residing in dormitories and 26 are work permit holders residing outside dormitories.
Jet Li’s Youngest Daughter Opens Up About Her Mental Health Struggles During COVID-19 Outbreak
The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t just taking a toll on the physical health of people. It’s also wreaking havoc on mental health, with more people being prone to stress, anxiety and depression in these unsettling and potentially lonely times.
Even those in supposedly privileged positions aren’t spared. Last Friday (Apr 17), Jada Li, the youngest daughter of martial arts superstar Jet Li, shared a candid update on Instagram admitting that, frankly speaking, she’s not doing so well during this period.
“Isolation has really taken a toll on my mental health,” wrote the 17-year-old. “I’ve had a long history with anxiety and major depression, and I’m currently experiencing a pretty bad relapse, something I thought I had left in the past.”
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C0VID-19 Lockdown Laughs
HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa
Singapore reports deaths from COVID-19
18 Apr 2020: 95-yr-old S'porean dies, is 11th death
11 Apr 2020: 90-yr-old man becomes 8th death, 191 new cases
29 Mar 2020 Singapore reports third death from COVID-19
21 Mar 2020 Singapore reports first two coronavirus deaths
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