Will Covid19 disappear in 2021
Many have high hopes for 2021.
Given that we have a vaccine on hand, there were sighs of relief. 2021 might be the start to recapture the time lost in 2020. However, with recent mutations, there are fears that the vaccine might not be sufficient. 2021 may just end up another year of start-stop battle with Covid19.
That said, with CNY celebrations around the corner, let's not go wild. As tempting as it may be to upheld tradition and have big gatherings, such acts may be detrimental in the long run. There is a possibility that we have latent cases that are asymptomatic in the community that are yet undetected. Last year, CNY was the result of several new clusters. Let's be sensible and not risk another year.
1) 44 new Covid10 cases
- 44 Imported
- 0 Community cases
It was a good news, bad news day. Local community case was at 0 for 3 consecutive days. After 10 days of community cases, this was a welcoming relief. However, there are as many as 102 imported cases over 3 days. At this rate, we could easily hit 1000 cases within a month.
It would be good to know what will happen to those who are tested positive. Are they quarantine in the hospital or other facilities? Will it overwhelm our medical resources?
• 4 (Cases 59604, 59612, 59629 and 59635) are Singaporeans and 2 (Cases
59611 and 59642) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Netherlands, UK and US.
• 7 (Cases 59603, 59608, 59609, 59616, 59627, 59628 and 59632) are
Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India, Russia and the
UAE.
• 1 (Case 59643) is a Long-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from the
US.
• 3 (Cases 59601, 59606 and 59638) are Student’s Pass holders who arrived
from France, Indonesia and Kazakhstan.
• 6 (Cases 59602, 59605, 59607, 59630, 59631 and 59633) are Work Pass
holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Japan, Poland and Spain.
• 17 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia
and Malaysia, of whom 3 (Cases 59621, 59636 and 59640) are foreign domestic
workers.
• 4 (Cases 59622, 59624, 59625 and 59626) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders
who arrived from India to visit their relatives who are Singaporeans or
Singapore Permanent Residents.
Source: MOH
2) Integrated Shield Plan now covers Covid19 vaccine complications that lead to hospitalisation.
While this gives one a peace of mind just in case of complication from Covid19 vaccination. It does provide cold comfort knowing that there is a risk involved in the vaccination. At least, you are covered in case something goes wary.
All 7 Integrated Shield Plan (IP) are extending this coverage. This will last till Dec 31 2021, so get your vaccine early!
Source: ST
3) Rise in imported cases not due to more travellers entering Singapore: Lawrence Wong
“Why have the numbers gone up? It’s simply because the prevalence rate, the incidence rate, of the disease is much higher now. The virus is raging in countries everywhere.”
Interestingly, the bulk of the cases are from 2 or 3 main countries such as India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. While most are from construction and foreign domestic workers, there is also quite a handful of long term pass and social visitors. Perhaps, the strategy needs to be tightened for specific countries especially if the incident rates are much higher compared to other sources.
Source: Today
4) Banks see long queues for new notes ahead of Chinese New Year, some People turn away
Have you collected your CNY notes yet?
Long queues of mostly senior citizens formed outside bank branches on Monday (Jan 25), with people eager to snap up new dollar, notes less than three weeks before Chinese New Year.
Source: Today
5) Pandemic could last 4 to 5 years
No One is safe until everyone is saved. If you think that the current vaccine is the cure, it would be a grave mistake. The vaccine is but a stopgap measure. Unless the world vaccine at the same time and the virus do not mutate, all is good. However, with mutation, comes a different risk.
While this could be challenging, we just have to live with it. Adjust our daily lives and adapt. We can win this virus.
Source: TNP
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