Free Republic

In Singapore, one of the first places hit by coronavirus, detectives are tracking down potential positive cases to try to stay one step ahead of the virus. How did they do this and is it too late for the rest of the world? In mid-January, a group of 20 tourists from the Chinese city of Guangxi arrived in Singapore for Chinese New Year. They visited some of its most glamorous sights. Also on their itinerary was a non-descript traditional Chinese medicine shop, selling crocodile oil and herbal products. The shop is popular with mainland tourists. They were served by a...

There were bound to be plenty of unpredictable consequences as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, but a gang war between rival packs of monkeys in the streets of Thailand? Sasaluk Rattanachai, a local shopkeeper who was credited by the Daily Mail for capturing the footage, claimed that this is the first time she's ever seen such a clash between the temple monkeys and the city monkeys, two different groups separated by a train track. Of course, you'll recall that the original novel of THE PLANET OF THE APES begins with a pandemic virus.

An inconsiderate neighbour has been stepping on lift buttons at Block 234 Hougang Avenue 1 to avoid having to touch them - much to the dismay of other residents. Photos that Stomp contributor Pissed Off took last week show dirty footprints left behind by the culprit. The Stomp contributor said: "Seriously, we don't need neighbours with kampung spirit. No sanitisers, no toothpicks. This is fine. But why leave footprints on the lift buttons and panels? "We have a selfish and inconsiderate neighbour who is extremely fearful of the coronavirus that he or she has to resort to using his/her feet...

Police are hunting four men after an Asian student was battered by racists saying they ‘don’t want your coronavirus’. Jonathan Mok, 23, was punched and kicked by a group of three or four men and a woman as he walked along Oxford Street last Monday, February 24. The Singaporean, who has lived in London for two years while studying at UCL, was allegedly taunted: ‘I don’t want your coronavirus in my country.’ Scotland Yard has released images of four men they wish to speak to in connection with the ‘racially aggravated’ incident. Detective Sergeant Emma Kirby said: ‘This attack left...

As the novel coronavirus starts to gather speed in Europe, the Middle East and the U.S., there’s one place it is seemingly being contained: Singapore. With no reported virus-related deaths despite 96 cases, and a slowing rate of infection that’s been outpaced by recoveries, the Asian city-state is emerging as a litmus test of whether the deadly pathogen can be, if not contained, then neutralized. The answer is maybe, and perhaps only with the unique combination of factors that Singapore brings: a top-notch health system, draconian tracing and containment measures, and a small population that’s largely accepting of government’s expansive...

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Saturday (29 February) confirmed four new cases of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Singapore, bringing the total to 102. Three more patients have been discharged from the hospital. This brings the total of those who have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged to 72, more than half of the total confirmed cases. On Friday, MOH said that most of the 30 remaining patients in the hospital are stable or improving. Seven remain in critical condition in the intensive care unit. As of noon, the ministry has identified 3,033 close contacts...

As a country that finds itself in the eye of the global coronavirus storm, the prosperous island city-state of Singapore might provide some useful tips on how British officials can best contain the outbreak without plunging the entire country into complete paralysis. Singapore, with its large population of ethnic Chinese people, was one of the first Asian countries to be affected by the virus, and is dealing with almost 90 confirmed cases. Moreover, there were significant concerns that it might follow China in being identified as one of the main sources of the outbreak after a British businessman who had...

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): The 62 Covid-19 patients who have been discharged here no longer have the virus in them and cannot pass the infection on to others, experts at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) assured. Stories have surfaced in China that one in seven patients who has recovered is still infectious. But they said the situation in Singapore is very different Professor Leo Yee Sin, executive director of NCID, said doctors monitor virus-shedding in patients' respiratory tract - in other words, they check if the patient is still releasing live virus and thus remains contagious. This is...

Singapore reported the discharge from hospital of two recovered coronavirus patients on Monday, marking the fourth consecutive day that the total number of discharged patients has been higher than the number of infected ones. In all, 53 of the country’s 90 cases have “fully recovered from the infection”, the Health Ministry said in a statement, with one more case linked to a pre-existing cluster at The Life Church and Missions Singapore also being confirmed. [...] The city state has been working closely with the World Health Organisation and other countries, Lee said in the letter, pointing to “early indications” that...

Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes, a Mexican citizen residing in Singapore, was arrested based on a Complaint charging him with acting within the United States on behalf of a foreign government (Russia), without notifying the Attorney General, and conspiracy to do the same.John C. Demers, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; Ariana Fajardo Orshan, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; George Piro, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Miami Field Office; and Diane J. Sabatino, Director of Field Operations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Miami Field Office, made the announcement. According to court...

A senior pastor of the Grace Assembly of God church is among those from the church who have tested positive for the coronavirus. In a letter on Thursday (Feb 13) to members of the church, Pastor Wilson Teo told members of the congregation that he has been warded in the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) since Feb 11. Seven confirmed coronavirus cases are linked to cluster associated with the church. The first two cases were announced on Wednesday, while the other five were announced on Thursday. At least three of them work at the church, which has a branch...

Key Points China said it confirmed 15,152 new cases and 254 additional deaths and that those figures include the ones reported earlier by Hubei province. China’s Hubei province reported an additional 242 deaths and 14,840 new cases as of Feb. 12. The province said it is starting to include “clinically diagnosed” cases in its figures and that 13,332 of the new cases fall under that classification. =================================================================== All times below are in Beijing time. 6:03 pm: Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi warns of first-quarter smartphone hit The chief executive of smartphone maker Xiaomi said the the disruption caused by the coronavirus...

Five people from Britain, including one child, are hospitalized in France with the new virus from China after contracting it during a holiday in the Alps. Saturday’s announcement by the French health minister is the latest example of how the tentacles of the virus can spread across multiple borders. The five British citizens were staying in a chalet in the Alpine resort of Contamines-Montjoie, and were in close contact with another Briton who apparently contracted the virus in Singapore, traveled to the French Alps and then tested positive for the virus upon return to Britain, French Health Minister Agnes Buzyn...

Singapore has confirmed a first case of the coronavirus that has led to the quarantine of the Chinese city of Wuhan, Channel News Asia reported on Thursday. That news was followed by confirmation from officials in Vietnam, that two Chinese nationals are being treated in hospital, as AFP reported. The outbreak has sickened more than 500 people in China and 17 patients have died from the illness, according to official reports. Wuhan, the site of the first reports of the illness believed to have started at a seafood market, is on lockdown to prevent it from spreading further. The illness...

A single click of her tongue was all it took to start a brawl in the middle of a supermarket in Clementi Mall. Shoppers stumbled across an unusual scene on Saturday morning (Dec 21) after two women and a teen got into a fight. Apparently unhappy that a woman had tutted at him for blocking her way, the 14-year-old boy turned around to spew a string of Hokkien expletives at her, Lianhe Wanbao reported. His foul language and poor attitude also angered the woman's daughter who gave him a slap. Already agitated, the slap only served to further incense the...

"I'm absolutely confident that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board," former US president Barack Obama said in Singapore, BBC reported. Obama told the audience at the Singapore Expo that the world would be a better place if women were in charge. The event, entitled "A Conversation with President Barack Obama" came just two days after "An Evening with Michelle Obama." “If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way,” Obama...

Reconnaissance of a North Korean launch site indicates that Kim Jong-Un may be preparing to test a long-range ballistic missile, three U.S. intelligence officials who monitor North Korea in different agencies tell TIME. The intelligence comes ahead of a fast-approaching self-declared year-end deadline that Kim set in an April 12 speech for a nuclear deal with the U.S. In recent weeks, North Korea has reopened its Sohae Satellite Launching Station and resumed testing what U.S. intelligence officials and private experts suspect may be a solid fuel rocket engine that could be used in an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching...

"If We Make It Through December" and in December (December 12th) we will see an election in the UK and going into it Donald Trump spoke with Nigel Farage and the conversation heaping praise on Nigel and Boris Johnson and expressing fear of Jeremy Corbyn. "I'd like to see you and Boris get together cause you would really have some numbers..... "Nigel would you please get under the bus and let Boris Johnson win the election" And Nigel has obliged pulling his Brexit Party out of Conservative Party seats that the Tories won in the last election..... What is the...

A judge in Singapore sentenced a 66-year-old baggage handler at Changi Airport to three weeks in jail this week for misbehavior that ruined the trips of countless travelers and cost Singapore Airlines and SilkAir more than $30,000.

By Yi Whan-woo, Kim Yoo-chul As nuclear negotiations between North Korea and the United States remain in a stalemate after no "substantial outcome" from their recent encounter in Sweden, the lack of visible progress in the denuclearization dialogue is raising concerns that the North is "buying time" for its military and nuclear advancement. During an Asan Institute for Policy Studies security forum held in Seoul, Tuesday, Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the Washington-based RAND Corporation, claimed that despite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's promise to end his nuclear program, Pyongyang has not taken any meaningful measures toward this....