‘China's Qingdao city said on Monday (Oct 12) it will conduct Covid-19 tests for the entire population of more than 9 million people over five days after new cases appeared linked to a hospital treating imported infections. The city reported six new Covid-19 cases and six asymptomatic cases as of late Oct 11. Most of the cases were linked to the Qingdao Chest Hospital.’
Read here (Straits Times, Oct 12, 2020)
‘When it comes to fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore has been punching above its weight. Blood samples from three patients here were used to develop the experimental antibody cocktail used to treat US President Donald Trump after he tested positive for the coronavirus.
‘The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) had responded to a collaboration request from US biotechnology firm Regeneron - the company which developed that antibody cocktail - with no claim of intellectual property right over the treatment.’
Read here (Straits Times, Oct 10, 2020)
‘When Aman Gwjwn, 17, developed a persistent cough and cold in July while on holiday at her grandmother's home in Bangalore, her family of eight went to war, preparing themselves for Covid-19 to sweep through their home. Everyone from a 14-year-old eighth-grade student to a near-octogenarian would go on to be infected. But the Chinese-Indian family slowly won their battle against the disease over the next 1½ months, armed with discipline, composure and logistical planning.
"Our approach was: We'll all surely get it, but we'll all survive it as a family. We just made sure everyone didn't fall sick together, so that some people were healthy enough to take care of the others," said Ms Jennifer Liang, 48, Aman's mother and a social worker in Assam who flew to Bangalore immediately. The Liangs formed what they called "a war council" of decision makers, which included Jennifer's husband Sunil Kaul, a doctor and public health activist in Assam. As Aman isolated herself in her uncle's house nearby, the family set up a WhatsApp group called Covid Planning.’
Read here (Straits Times, Sept 26, 2020)
‘Makers of the leading coronavirus vaccine candidates disclosed detailed information about their pivotal late-stage clinical trials and how they plan to gauge their shots' safety and effectiveness. The moves by first Moderna Inc, and then later from Pfizer Inc and its partner BioNTech SE, follow increasing worry that the effort to develop a Covid-19 vaccine is becoming politicised, and that an inoculation could be rushed to market before it is proven safe and effective. AstraZeneca said in an e-mail it would share its plans as well, though it hadn't as of Thursday (Sept 17) evening in the US.’
Read here (Straits Times, Sept 18, 2020)
‘As coronavirus cases continue to spiral in India, only the second country after the US to cross the 5 million milestone, questions have been raised over whether herd immunity is an option for India now. Some epidemiologists believe it is already taking place in small areas where high infection levels have been followed by a weakening of the Covid-19 virus. Others believe that it is too soon to predict or holds little promise.
‘Dr Rajni Kant from the Indian Council of Medical Research: "Herd immunity right now is not a (government) strategy for coronavirus control. The current strategy is wearing a mask, following social distancing and good hygiene with regular washing of hands." Still, there are silver linings in India's Covid-19 fight. The country's mortality rate at 1.64 per cent is the lowest in the world and recovery is among the highest with a recovery rate of 78-79 per cent.’
Read here (Straits Times, Sept 17, 2020)
‘The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has debunked arguments that countries have to choose between public health and the economy when they look at whether to ease restrictions following a lockdown. "That is a false choice," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Instead, the WHO urges countries to focus on four essential priorities:
Read here (Straits Times, Sept 17, 2020)
‘Multiple studies suggest that having adequate amounts of vitamin D may play a role in helping people stave off or combat the coronavirus, although the jury is still out on whether the results are conclusive or why this is so.
‘At least one overseas study has associated vitamin D deficiency with a higher risk of Covid-19. Published in medical journal JAMA Network Open on Sept 3, the study observed 489 patients from the University of Chicago Medicine health system, about a third of whom had vitamin D deficiency. Patients with vitamin D deficiency and who were not given treatment for it were 1.77 times more likely to test positive for Covid-19 than those who were not. The study also noted that other research had found that Covid-19 was less prevalent in groups that had lower rates of vitamin D deficiency.’
Read here (Straits Times, Sept 16, 2020)
‘Local scientists have developed an integrated monitoring system that can be easily attached to any face mask in order to monitor the wearer for health indicators associated with Covid-19. Sensors pick up skin temperature, blood oxygen saturation, blood pressure and heart rate - all of which are parameters associated with coronaviruses. Professor Loh Xian Jun, who is one of the scientists behind the invention, told The Straits Times on Thursday (Sept 10) that the inspiration for the system came around the circuit breaker period.’
Read here (Straits Times, Sept 10, 2020)
‘More than a quarter of New Delhi's 20 million residents may have caught the novel coronavirus without showing symptoms, a study released on Thursday (Aug 20) indicated, raising fresh doubts about India's official case numbers. Extrapolated, the antibody study on 15,000 residents means 5.8 million people in the bustling capital could have caught the virus - more than 37 times the official tally of 156,139 infections.’
Read here (Straits Times, August 20, 2020)
‘The WHO wrote to every country on Tuesday (Aug 18) urging them to quickly join its global shared vaccine programme - and spelled out who would get its eventual coronavirus jabs first. The World Health Organisation's director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that without vaccinating the planet's highest-risk populations simultaneously, it would be impossible to rebuild the global economy.
‘And he said the most exposed 20 per cent of each country's population - including front-line health workers, adults over 65 and those with pre-existing conditions - would be targeted in the first wave of vaccinations, once the WHO-led COVAX shared facility can roll out a proven safe and effective vaccine.’
Read here (Straits Times, August 18, 2020)
‘As public health officials look to fall and winter, the spectre of a new surge of Covid-19 gives them chills. But there is a scenario they dread even more: a severe flu season, resulting in a "twindemic"... The concern about a twindemic is so great that officials around the world are pushing the flu shot even before it becomes available in clinics and doctors' offices... Dr Robert Redfield, director of the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, has been talking it up, urging corporate leaders to figure out ways to inoculate employees. The CDC usually purchases 500,000 doses for uninsured adults but this year ordered an additional 9.3 million doses.’
Read here (Straits Times, August 17, 2020)
‘About one in six foreign workers living in dormitories contracted Covid-19, a calculation based on Singapore's official tally showed, but the true infection rate in the dormitories is likely to be higher than this, experts say. If accurate, however, an infection rate of one in six would not be enough for herd immunity to develop in the migrant worker population, they added. A total of 52,425 out of 323,000 workers had been infected as of Wednesday.’
Read here (Straits Times, August 14, 2020)
On August 7, Singapore finished testing all 323,000 workers in dorms for Covid-19 -- a "massive undertaking" that has taken four months. This story with a video shows how the Sungei Tengah Lodge, a worker dormitory for 23,000, has been cleared of Covid-19. It provides some images of the living conditions there (after they have been cleaned up) and reveals how various agencies as well as the dorm operator have worked together to clear the virus.
Read here (Straits Times, August 8, 2020)