TR EMERITUS

Authorities in China have ordered the lockdown of a small county, near the city of Ping Ding Shan (平顶山) in the Henan province （河南）. Jia county （郏县）, with a population of about 600,000 was locked down on Tuesday (31 Mar), after tests conducted on 4 of its medical workers at a local hospital and a related member of public confirmed Covid-19 infections. According to the Jia county's notice, all non-essential businesses are to be shut down, except utilities, medical suppliers, logistics companies and food processing firms. All residents are to remain at home and those who wishes to leave must have special permits, have their temperature taken and wear face masks for those trips. In addition, only people with special permits can go to work and cars can only be used on alternate days, depending on their plate numbers being odd or even. Prior to the lockdown on Tuesday, local authorities have already began preparing residents, urging them to stock up on vegetables and daily necessities to prepare for the isolation, adding that each family could also assign one member to go out for groceries once every two days. According to official reports on the situation, the first case was confirmed on Saturday (28 Mar) while the remaining 3 cases were confirmed on Sunday (29 Mar). The first confirmed case was a doctor named Liu, who had returned to the county from Wuhan in January. He had isolated himself for 2 weeks before resuming work at the local hospital, the report said. Unfortunately the 2 weeks self-isolation was ineffective and he remains asymptomatic, infecting 2 of his colleagues in the process of his work and a classmate. Doctor Liu only began to exhibit symptoms end March and subsequently tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, further tests conducted on his colleagues and close contacts confirmed 3 more infections on Sunday. Meanwhile, all traffic will be barred from leaving or entering Jia county, with the exception of essential supplies. It is believed that the county would remain in lockdown status for at least 2 weeks. Currently, Henan province has registered a total of 1276 confirmed cases with 22 deaths, 1251 have been discharged from hospital.      Read More →

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has announced ten new cases of COVID-19 infection linked to Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home (LAM) at 1 Thomson Lane. This forms a new cluster and takes the total number of cases linked to LAM (Thomson) to eleven. * 2. Following the first confirmed case at LAM (Thomson) on 31 March 2020, LAM (Thomson) worked with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) to test all the Home’s residents and symptomatic staff for COVID-19 infection. Of the ten new cases detected, eight are residents at the Home (Cases 983, 984, 985, 986, 987, 988, 989, 990). The remaining new cases are a staff (Case 976) of LAM (Thomson), who cared for female residents at the home, and a family member of the staff, Case 973. 3. Since 31 March 2020, all staff caring for the Home’s female residents had been placed on Quarantine Order (QO). With the new cases, the remaining staff have also been placed on QO starting from today. MOH and AIC are working to provide LAM (Thomson) with manpower support during this period to ensure service continuity, so that its residents will not be affected. 4. Case 973 works in a non-patient facing role at Moral Home for the Aged Sick (Moral Home). He has not been at work since onset of symptoms. AIC has also been in contact with Moral Home, which has stepped up vigilance in monitoring the health status of residents and staff. So far, all its residents are well. Additional precautionary measures for Nursing Homes 5. MOH and AIC have issued an advisory on 1 April 2020 on enhanced precautionary measures for all Nursing Homes (NHs). The additional precautionary measures that all NHs must adhere to include: i. Suspension of all visitors to all NHs from 2 April 2020 until 30 April 2020. Nursing homes will offer caregivers alternative options such as telephone or video calls. MOH will review the situation closer to date. ii. Safe distancing for all NH residents. iii. NHs with more than 200 beds will begin to implement split-zones. iv. Reminder that staff who are unwell must not turn up for work. 6. MOH and AIC have also reiterated that NHs are to adhere strictly to advisories on COVID-19 precautionary measures. MOH and AIC will continue to monitor the situation closely, and work with the NHs to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their residents and staff.   Media Contact and Enquiries Ms Gwendolyn Goh Senior Executive, Integrated Communications and Marketing Agency for Integrated Care Email: [email protected] Tel: 6249 8306 / 9010 0514 Ms Elizabeth Njo Assistant Director, Integrated Communications and Marketing Agency for Integrated Care Email: [email protected] Tel: 6593 3869 / 9846 2476 About the Agency for Integrated Care The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) aims to create a vibrant care community for people to live well and age gracefully. AIC coordinates and supports efforts in integrating care to achieve the best care outcomes for our clients. We reach out to caregivers and seniors with information on staying active and ageing well, and connect people to services they need. We support stakeholders in their efforts to raise the quality of care, and also work with health and social care partners to provide services for the ageing population. Our work in the community brings care services and information closer to those in need. For more about us, please visit www.aic.sg. Translation of key terms 1. Agency for Integrated Care: 护联中心 2. Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home: 李亚妹安老院 3. Moral Home for the Aged Sick: 星洲德教病老院   * The first case at LAM (Thomson) - case 918 - was announced by MOH on 31 March 2020. She is an 86-year-old resident and is currently in an isolation room at NCID.      Read More →

We have hit the 1000 mark. It is a sad day not only because of the awful scale of the disease which has hit our tiny red dot, 3400 km from Wuhan, but also because all this was totally unnecessary and could well have been prevented. More than 2 months into the crisis, we do not have a flattening curve but rather a spike in the number of new cases, with a record 74 today. Yesterday, we heard Josephine Teo beseeching and threatening employers with sanctions if they did not permit their employees to work from home. But why wasn’t this enforced right from the outset as Peoples Voice had demanded! Josephine Teo, like the rest of her cabinet colleagues is 8 weeks too late! But we should not be surprised because this is a reactive and not a proactive government that we have. One week ago, they started emphasising on social distancing, when Peoples Voice had once again been advocating that from the outset of the crisis. But on this, again the message they put out was terribly conflicting and confusing. They closed tuition centers but kept schools open. Instead of taking decisive action as Peoples Voice had demanded from the outset, so as to cut off the legs of the virus, we still have the PAP leaders taking baby steps, or applying the “brakes” as Lawrence Wong would put it. They take these baby steps and apply a series of “brakes” instead of smashing down hard and jam-braking because their overriding concern is to keep life going on as “normal” and not shutting SINGAPORE off to the world. But 9 weeks after the crisis broke, no one is coming to Singapore and our economy has sputtered to a standstill. Ask the taxi-driver who drives around for 3 hours and earns less than $10 and you will realise the dire-straits many self-employed Singaporeans are in because of the government’s mismanagement of the crisis. And they still won’t give Singaporeans the correct advice that it is vital to mask in public, but carry on ad nauseum about washing hands. All the evidence now suggests that this piece of advice about not masking is one of the most harmful piece of medical advice ever dispensed for public health. In short, the Incompetence from the Taskforce and the government has been breathtaking. Their only defence these days is to hide behind laudatory but highly dubious articles written by friendly foreign Journalists. Singaporeans should not be fooled by the PAP spin. Let the results speak for themselves.     Peoples Voice Party            Read More →