5 S’pore News That You Should Know About That Were Reported Yesterday (9 February 2020)

Let’s face it: in this social media world, exciting and viral news like a cat feeding a baby bear would often appear in your Facebook news feed, while important news like the GDP growth of Singapore this year wouldn’t get the same reach.

It’s understandable since social media platforms would prioritise engaging and viral contents to keep users in their platform.

In order to ensure that you’d still know about important news instead just social news, below are the top five Singapore news that was reported yesterday which you should know, simplified for you in a bite-sized format:

Coronavirus In S’pore: 3 New, 4 Recovered, 6 In Critical Condition

According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), there were three more cases confirmed in Singapore – a 71-year-old grandfather, a Bangladeshi worker, and a 54-year-old Singaporean man who works at Resorts World Sentosa. They were all noted to not have any known links to previous cases and have no recent travel history to China.

Six, previously four, are now reported to be in critical condition and in the intensive care unit.

Four have been discharged, and one of them, a 41-year-old man evacuated from Wuhan by Scoot on 30 January, is the first Singaporean to have recovered.

MOH has already identified 989 close contacts and out of 892 of them who are still in Singapore, 845 have been contacted and are currently either in quarantine or isolation. They are still trying to contact the remaining 47.

For more info, tap here.

Local Coronavirus Cases Now More Than Imported Ones

MOH has reported that we currently have 43 confirmed cases in Singapore and out of the 43 cases, 22 are locally transmitted.

Initially, confirmed cases were only of tourists from Wuhan, however, in the past week, we have started seeing more and more local transmissions. There have been so many that they now exceed the imported ones.

26 confirmed cases are male while the remaining 17 are female. 16 are visitors from China. 22 are Singaporeans, two are Singapore permanent residents, one is a domestic helper from Indonesia, and two are Singapore work pass holders – one from China and the other from Bangladesh.

For more info, tap here.

S’pore Bans 4 Work Pass Holders & Suspends Privileges of 6 Employers Due To Leave Of Absence Breach 

In light of the coronavirus situation, those who have recent travel history to China are supposed to take a mandatory 14-day leave of absence. However, four work pass holders and six employers were discovered to have breached the requirements.

As such, the workers are no longer allowed to work in Singapore and six employers had their work pass privileges suspended for two years.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has been conducting random checks through inspections, telephone or video calls to ensure that those who are placed on mandatory leave of absence abide by the requirements.

For more info, tap here.

Two Ships Get Attacked By Pirates In Singapore Strait

In the early morning of Sunday, two ships in the Singapore Strait were attacked by pirates within one hour.

According to the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) Information Sharing Centre in a media release, the pirates managed to stead some engine spares in one ship but didn’t manage to steal anything from the other ship.

The incidents happened in the eastbound lane of the Singapore Strait. The first incident happened at 2.20am while the other incident occurred at 2.52am.

For more info, tap here.

Enjoy Reduced Tolls At Woodlands & Tuas Checkpoints From 2 March Onwards

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), toll charges for cars, buses and taxis at Woodlands and Tuas checkpoints will be reduced starting 2 March this year.

This move follows Malaysia’s reduction of toll charges at the Sultan Iskandar Building Toll Plaza (Causeway) and Tanjung Kupang Toll Plaza on 1 February.

At Woodlands Checkpoint, toll charges for cars will decrease from $1 to 80 cents while toll charges for taxis will decrease from 50 cents to 40 cents. Toll charges for buses will decrease from 80 cents to 60 cents.

At Tuas Checkpoint, toll charges for cars will decrease from $2.50 to $2.10 during peak hours, and $1.30 to $1.10 during off-peak hours. Toll charges for taxis will decrease from $1.90 to $1.60 during peak hours and $1 to 80 cents during off-peak hours. Toll charges for busses will decrease from $3 to $2.50 during peak hours and $1.50 to $1.20 during off-peak hours.

Peak hours at Tuas Checkpoint run from 5am to 10am and 3pm to 11pm.

For more info, tap here.

Do come back tomorrow to the Goody Feed app so you’ll always stay informed!