41 Out Of 42 Covid-19 Cases Reported Yesterday Were Asymptomatic Cases

By
Shawn Ambrose
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One of the reasons the coronavirus spread so rapidly when it first emerged is that most countries didn’t make it mandatory to wear masks then.

It was believed that only those who were ill needed to wear them. Surely, people who aren’t sick can’t transmit disease, right?

Image: Tenor

We later discovered that even asymptomatic people – people who aren’t ill and don’t exhibit any symptoms – can spread the disease too, and we were almost annoyed at Covid-19 for using below-the-belt tactics.

Now, many governments have made it compulsory for its citizens to cover the lower part of their face whenever they go out in public.

Considering the percentage of infections that are asymptomatic, it’s certainly a blessing that we didn’t make this discovery too late.

41 Out Of 42 Covid-19 Cases Reported Yesterday Were Asymptomatic Cases

On Saturday (12 Sept), for instance, 41 out of the 42 Covid-19 cases that were reported were asymptomatic, according to the Ministry of Health.

Without masks, they would have been free to transmit the virus to every passing stranger.

With the country easing some border restrictions, the number of imported cases was bound to rise as well.

10 of the 42 new infections were imported and were placed on stay-home notice upon arrival here.

This includes two Singaporeans and 5 permanent residents who returned to Singapore from India on Aug 30 and Aug 31.

One short-term visit pass holder from India and two work pass holders from Germany and the Philippines made up the remaining 3 imported cases.

The other 28 cases are migrant workers in dormitories, 16 of whom were already quarantined after they were identified as contacts of previous cases.

The other 12 cases were detected through surveillance testing, something the authorities carry out in dormitories every two weeks.

Being kiasu certainly pays off in a pandemic.

Good News: Decrease in Community & Unlinked Cases

Despite a few jumps in daily infections in the past week, the Ministry had some good news for us.

Only four community cases were reported yesterday, and the average number daily community cases has decreased from three cases two weeks ago to two in the past week.

Similarly, the number of unlinked cases  has decreased from a daily average of two cases to one over the same period.

Wait, does this mean Singaporeans are actually following the rules?

Image: Tenor

It certainly seems like it.

Government to Ease More Border Restrictions

On Friday, Singapore and Japan announced that they will launch a “reciprocal green lane” on 19 Sept to facilitate essential business and official travel for residents.

This makes Singapore the first country in the entire world to establish connectivity to Japan, Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affair (MFA) said, promising that there’ll be safeguards on both sides to keep people safe.

This includes:

  • Covid-19 test before departing and after arriving at the other country
  • A controlled itinerary for the first 14 days in the other country

Another country with whom we already have a green lane agreement, Malaysia, said on Friday (11 Sept) it is looking into fully reopening the Malaysia-Singapore border for daily commuting.

According to CNA, Malaysia’s health minister Adham Baba said the Recovery Movement Control Order period will be a crucial period for the ministry to decide when to fully open up their border with Singapore.

Dr Adham added that the ministry is also planning to double the number of swab tests conducted for the current Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL) and Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) schemes, which facilitate business and official travel.

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Shawn Ambrose
Email: [email protected]