Tag Archives: Virus

Pls Cheng hu..I beg U...Pls stop importing corona from overseas...You’re making the same mistake as Feb/Mar...Now Singapore is doing ok...But we need to preserve our healthcare resources for the people who are here...

Ever since the emergence of CO-VID 19 cases, I have observed a spike in racists comments online like on Facebook,Twitter and other social media platforms. Is MOH painting a picture that only the Foreign Indian Workers or Imported Cases from India are the sole culprits for the recent spike in infections ?

Singaporeans will have to go out to vote on 10 July when they would have preferred to stay safe from the risk of getting COVID-19. Almost three months after lockdown began, new cases still remain stubbornly in the three-digit range, a result of the PAP’s poor handling of the pandemic. The resulting economic damage could have been avoided.

A contributor has shared some interesting calculations for Budget 2020. In Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat's round-up speech on debate on the Fortitude Budget in Parliament, he revealed that Singapore is "committing almost $100 billion, or close to 20 per cent of our GDP, to our Covid-19 response". Once the PAP increases GST from 7% to 9%, our contributor estimates this should bring in an estimated extra 0.7% GDP per year. So in order to cover the money spent on the Special $100 billion Covid19 Budgets, our contributor suggests that the government will need around 28.5 years to claw back this amount. Could this mean that the PAP has a lot of extra in our reserve and they don't really need the extra 2% GST to begin with?

This sudden lifting of restrictions is nothing short of a bright streak of sunlight breaking through this storm of doom and gloom. I beg of you people to practice whatever it takes to restore our signature brand of lukewarm peace. Before I go, I should warn you of this: The sudden re-opening of every bit of business and recreation will be overwhelming. There has never been any precedent of such a thing happening apart from war or shortage. I wouldn't blame you if you'd explode and run around your favourite spot. But tone down the excitement a little bit. At least enough to remember "One arm's length away from people". Or was it 2 ?

While many may rejoice at being able to resume their normal activities again, we need to question why the government is so eager to move into phase 2, especially after the 154 media keeps releasing new information about potential PAP candidates on the ground. So now that people are able to gather in groups of 5 albeit with social distancing, this means that it is not illegal for people to be out and about, which means that the PAP can start their door-to-door campaigning, meeting the electorate and start selling their koyok again.

The Workers' Party politician Gerald Giam blogged about PAP's plans to roll out TraceTogether Tokens to all Singaporeans. If the PAP pushes its way through, an estimated 5.7 million residents in Singapore will be marked with a contact tracing device which will cost taxpayers over $100 million. However, TraceTogether has continually faced compatibility issues especially with iPhones. To overcome these issues, Apple and Google have developed their own contact tracing protocol called Exposure Notifications. While the PAP stubbornly insists on developing and implementing its TraceTogether project, at least 22 countries have now switched to using Exposure Notifications.

Government Technology Agency (GovTech) announced it had awarded a $6 million tender to a Singapore-based electronics maker PCI Pte Ltd to manufacture TraceTogether Tokens. The $6 million dollars will be used to supply an initial 300,000 dongles, worth about $20 each. The first batch of Token should be delivered in the second half of June 2020. If the PAP successfully pushes through with its plan to tag every Singaporean, PCI Limited stands to gain access to a business potentially worth more than $110 million once Tokens are made for all 5.7 million residents.

In a renewed attempt to implement this failed TraceTogether project, the government recently announced that Singaporeans will be issued with a wearable contact-tracing device. Minister of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Vivian Balakrishnan tried to reassure that the device only uses Bluetooth technology to exchange proximity information between devices. He claims there is no GPS in the token and it will not track users' locations. Yet again this proposed token faced mounting concerns about privacy and surveillance. Among those voices was journalist Kirsten Han who came up with various questions about the token.

On 10 June, Leong Mun Wai called out the speeches by Lee Hsien Loong and Lawrence Wong as being "far short of substance" especially when Singaporeans were hoping to find answers to soothe their anxieties caused by Covid19. Instead Leong Mun Wai raised 10 points which Lee Hsien Loong or Lawrence Wong could have addressed instead of spewing out empty rhetoric.