2021 off to a bad start

 Daily Dose : 2021 off to a bad start

Does it feel like 2021 is off to a bad start?

My boy told me that 2021 will be a bad year, I asked him why and he pointed out all the major incidents that happened this year. Given that we are only 2 months in for 2021, I tend to agree with him.

• Death of a 15-year-old ACS student at an adventure facility in Safra Yishun
• Tanjong Pagar Crash where 5 lives were taken away on 2nd day of CNY
• Tree Fallen on a woman while jogging
• Murder and suicide at Tampines
• Murder by stabbing in Jurong East
• Fire at Tuas
• Raising of Petrol Price

These are just a few bad things that happened to date. I only realised the last one when I went to the petrol pump today and it felt like prices were raised by 15% from the last month. Actually, it was my son who bought this up to be about 2021 being a bad year. It is not difficult to see why from the cases that seem to be popping up every week. Let's hope for the rest of the 10 months to be calmer. 

Daily Dose will be taking a break for this week. We will be back on Monday!

1) 7 Covid19 cases

• 6 Imported 
• 1 Community case

The community case is linked to 2 other cases, making it a cluster. The case, a 35 female Indonesia domestic worker had symptom during the quarantine but not reported. It echos what happened to her employer who did the same, not reporting despite having symptoms during the quarantine.

The rest of the cases as follow

• 2 (Cases 60438 and 60441) are Work Pass holders who arrived from India and Japan.
• 1 (Case 60444) is a Work Permit holder who arrived from Indonesia and is a foreign domestic worker.
• 1 (Case 60440) is a Student’s Pass holder who arrived from India for studies in Singapore.
• 2 (Cases 60436 and 60437) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. Case 60436 arrived from Sri Lanka to visit his family member who works in Singapore. Case 60437 is a sea crew who arrived from Malaysia on a vessel, and was tested onboard without disembarking. 

Source: MOH

https://www.moh.gov.sg/news-highlights/details/1-new-case-of-locally-transmitted-covid-19-infection-24-Feb-2021-Updated

2) Tuas Fire Incident saw 10 people taken to hospital for burn injuries

There was an explosion in the unit. The Occupier of the unit is Stars Engrg which ironically deals with the fire protection system. 

Source: ST

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/some-of-them-ran-out-screaming-eyewitness-who-helped-victims-in-tuas-fire-incident

3) China's Sinovac covid19 vaccine arrives in Singapore

This infamous vaccine has less than the desired efficacy rate base on some test in Brazil where it only showed 50.4%. It is not approved yet, so it is not in use. However, given that we are not allowed to choose the vaccine if Sinovac was to be approved, base on past records, it will probably hinder the take up rate due to the lack of confidence by the general public.

The best way to avoid Sinovac- take the vaccine now when offered!

Source: ST

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/chinas-sinovac-vaccine-arrives-in-singapore-but-not-yet-approved-for-use

4) Rise in petrol duties ill-timed with the electric vehicle not yet a viable option, Pritam Singh

That I completely agreed. Can't afford a new car now, much less a Tesla.

Source: CNA

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/petrol-duties-ill-timed-pritam-singh-budget-debate-14270852