Deputy Chief Minister Amar Douglas Uggah said the decision takes effect on Monday (Feb 10) in view of Singapore's orange alert for the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China.
According to the island republic's Disease Outbreak Response System Condition or Dorscon, orange means the outbreak is deemed to have moderate to high public health impact.
The declaration of Code Orange for Dorscon is a very serious announcement on the threat of the coronavirus spreading in public areas. It is indirectly saying that Singapore is a dangerous place to be in. If this is true, then is it safe not to wear mask going around? What prompted Singapore to raise the alarm was the detection of a few cases of infection that were not linked to China tourists, suspecting that the virus is now in the air in Singapore. We have Grab driver and Cisco policeman being infected as well.
If these cases could not be traced to their sources, it could present a serious spread of the disease in Singapore. Hopefully the sources or links could be established to confirm that the virus is not free floating in Singapore air or in public areas.
The impact of Code Orange is taken very seriously by other countries as in the case of Sarawak imposing stricter measures against those who returned from Singapore. Let's hope that in the next few days the danger of free floating virus in Singapore is confirmed as not the case and the Orange code could be scaled down to Yellow to give some assurance that the risk level is not that high. The negative impact of Code Orange cannot be underestimated and must be handled with careful consideration.
The discovery that the two cases were linked to the China tourists in a church and the cluster identified and contained is a good sign that things are nothing getting out of control. With only two new cases a day in the last two days and hopefully the number will go down will give reasons to downgrade Dorscon to Yellow will be most welcome by our kiasi Singaporeans.
However, with the new DBS case, things look a bit tricky. Hope this person did not take the train to work. Can't imagine how many could be affected in a crowded morning train. Let' welcome 10m population as our gift to our future children. Make it 20m! Nothing will ever happen to us, not Dorscon Red, no way. Orange is about the worse that could be given our very efficient and effective contact tracing system and teams.
PS. Anyone try to treat this virus with Newater?