Covid19 - Still believing that this virus started in Wuhan, China?

So far we have found that this Covid19 is an exceptionally clean virus. It has displayed very special characteristics that are different from other viruses. Why did I say that it is a clean virus? Look at the chart below, only clean and rich countries are more badly affected by this virus than dirty filthy and polluted third world countries. This virus does not stand a chance to survive in third world polluted environment, rivers, drains and rubbish dumps.

European countries are their favourites, clean air, clean environment, can go to church, travel in cruises, eat in nice restaurants and shopping belts. 

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS CASES

PLACES	CONFIRMED CASES	REPORTED DEATHS
China	80,793	3,169
Italy	12,462	827
Iran	9,000	354
South Korea	7,755	60
France	2,281	48
Spain	2,277	54
Germany	1,908	3
United States	1,302	38
Cruise ship (Diamond Princess)	696	7
Switzerland	652	4
Japan	568	12
Denmark	514	0
Netherlands	503	5
Sweden	500	1
Norway	489	0
United Kingdom	460	8
Belgium	314	3
Qatar	262	0
Austria	246	0
Bahrain	189	0

Click to see more

As of 10:32am Mar 12, 2020

Back to the question whether this virus started its life in Wuhan, China. When it first started in Wuhan, no one knew about this virus until the Chinese identified and isolated it and reported to WHO.  And one good thing, when it was spreading furiously the Chinese govt thought it necessary to impose an immediate lockdown to prevent it from spreading across China and also to the rest of the world. 

China did this very effectively and it is now under control in China and new cases are getting lesser and lesser. China is confident that by end of Mar or April this virus would be contained and no more new cases originating from China.

Remember that the virus hit Wuhan, China just as the Chinese were preparing to celebrate Chinese New Year and were returning home. Some who were working in Wuhan were returning to their provinces. Chinese around the world were returning to China to roost, to be with their families. It was more a one way traffic, inflow rather than outflow though some Chinese were preparing to go overseas for holidays. This is a small minority.

China was able to contain the spread of the virus to its other provinces very quickly with very few cases reported and quickly stumped out. If this virus originated from Wuhan, China, then the spread to Chinese provinces would be big and quite widespread and those working in Wuhan would have brought them to their respective provinces. This was not the case, though some did.

If the virus could not spread widely across China, how did the virus spread to the rest of the world in such a short period of time if they originated from Wuhan, China? From recent experience and reports, the virus was found in every corner of the earth with many places that were not visited by anyone from China or people who had been to China especially in the USA, Europe and far corners of the earth. Does this ring a bell, that the viruses in these places did not come from China, very likely indigenous? The case in point are the nursing homes in the USA and many corners of America where people are infected with different variants of this virus. It cannot be that these viruses came from Wuhan, China.

The Americans and many countries did not know the existence of this virus and many infected persons were treated as flu or common cold. As they said, ignorance is bliss. Only when they are specifically tested for this virus with the new test kits that they are found to have it. The Wuhan virus might have affected some countries when there were people visiting both places. For countries far far away where no one from Wuhan, or visited Wuhan and returned, and still found the virus affecting their people, where did the virus come from? Many cases in the USA and Europe have absolutely no connection with Wuhan.

So, are the evil and mischievous Americans still smearing China, insisting that the virus originated from Wuhan, China and spread to them and to the rest of the world? Who is lying? Would the unthinking still stick to this white lie and blame China and Chinese for this virus?

There are empirical evidence that the virus in many countries did not come from China. And there are many cases of virus infections in the USA that did not come from China. How many would still believe in the American white lie?

Thus USA, stop playing the mischievous blame game! Your evil deeds are coming back to you.

PS. Western media continue to trumpet the Trump Administration lie that the virus came from Wuhan in today's Yahoo News by AP.

TRUMP OFFICIALS STRESS VIRUS ORIGINATED IN CHINA

Members of the Trump administration — on the defensive about how they have handled the coronavirus outbreak — are seeking to remind Americans that the coronavirus outbreak originated in China. They have repeatedly reminded people that the virus started in Wuhan, a city in China’s Hubei province, and they have faulted China's initial handling of the outbreak. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called it the “Wuhan coronavirus.” China stresses that it is trying to help the international community battle the virus, sending medical teams to countries that need help now that the crisis at home is waning.

Covid19 - Social distancing at least 2 metres

The authorities will have to double down on measures within Singapore, even as some basic surveillance at the borders continue, said the minister, who is the co-chair of a multi-ministry task force set up to handle the coronavirus.

“We will look at the whole range of social distancing measures,” he said at a press conference held at the National Press Centre.

The Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that senior-centric activities by government agencies will be suspended for two weeks. Over time, the Government will have to ramp up and implement more social distancing measures, Mr Wong said.

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READ: COVID-19: People's Association to suspend courses and activities for seniors

“We will look at a fuller range of social distancing measures we can put in place including for public events, community activities, school closures, workplace social distancing - including things like staggered hours, telecommuting - as well as religious services too. We will cover a broad spectrum and we will see what we should put in place,” Mr Wong said.

Singapore already has other social distancing measures like isolating patients, putting close contacts on quarantine and issuing Stay-Home Notices, he added.  CNA

The above quotes from CNA show how serious the Singapore govt is taking this Covid19 threat to the wellbeing of Singaporeans. The latest spurt in number of new infected cases due to irresponsible social behaviour has prompted the govt to close down on many activities associated with senior citizens. The main point is to keep social mixing down to a minimum with social contacts to be kept at maybe a minimum of 2 metres apart to be safe. Big social gatherings are to be avoided.

The concept sounds very good and should be reasonably effective. The biggest loophole and unavoidable is the pack trains carrying commuters all over the islands. Many of them are less than 20 cm apart with some idiots unconsciously chose to stand very close to other commuters even if the train is not really full when they could keep a reasonable distance from other commuters. Most of these are wildlife from countries where sticking close to each other with no respect to the private space of a stranger is the norm. You can smell them whenever they are close to you in the trains.

So how to maintain the 2 metre distancing gap when the trains are carrying 1 or 2 million commuters daily?  This is like putting money into a pocket with a big hole in it.  Heheheh, 6.9m population or 10m or 15m population is the way to go.A serious infectious disease could wipe out the whole population within weeks.

What do you think?

Lee Kuan Yew being ridiculed and disrespected so soon after his death

The family feud of Lee Kuan Yew is still brewing. I am not taking sides and do not want to be involved. What saddens me is that Lee Kuan Yew was the founding father or one of the founding fathers of modern Singapore. It is written in our history books. The least Singaporeans can do for him is not to badmouth him when he can no longer defend himself.

Today, everywhere, in the main media and social media, Lee Kuan Yew is like an old useless football being kicked around by anyone as they like it. He has been called senile, easily misled, did not know what he was doing in his last few years alive. He cannot read, cannot understand law, cannot understand a legal document like his own will even when he was the one that wanted it changed. And people around him could do anything they wanted with him as if he was a walking dead. Were these true?

What happened to the tough and sharp talking double honours top politician from Cambridge University Law School? Are Singaporeans expected to believe this is the Lee Kuan Yew they admired and held in deference, the man that ruled Singapore and brought Singapore from the Third World to the First World, highly regarded as a world leader?

If this saga goes on like this, soon this founding father of Singapore would have been so belittled to a point that Singaporeans would lose all respect for him, thinking and believing that he was a senile old man, a foolish man and could be easily misled while still alive. Dragging this man over a pool of mud is very disrespectful and unbecoming.

Let' spare this man and his good name and stop tarnishing him so soon after his death. Have some respect for the man even if you dislike him or disagree with him.

My God, when would this nonsense stop?

PS. This is reported in TRE in an article by Lim Tean

The Straits Times today have reported that sales of LKY coins and copper busts were stopped just hours after launch due to online criticism from netizens.

From the ST article ‘Many netizens criticised the latest launch, saying the medallions and busts in Mr Lee’s likeness went against his wishes, as he had said he did not want to be memorialised.

Facebook user Dereth Tan wrote: “Didn’t the late Mr Lee explicitly (express) his wish to not be idolised in such a way? Why is this simple request being disrespected?”

Some thought the use of his image was political in what could be an election year, while others said it was in poor taste to profit from his image through the sale of medallions and busts.’

Singapore Parliament - Guess who is not there

Meanwhile, those watching Ms Lim ask her question also noticed the rather-empty Parliament session. “Thank you Sylvia Lim for speaking up in Parliament about spending Government money wisely,” wrote All Singapore Stuff on its Facebook page. “But more importantly, who is she speaking to? How come looks like so many empty seats again?” the caption added.

 One person said that Ms Lim should have asked why she was scheduled to speak during a  near-empty Parliament sitting. Others called it “disrespectful to the voters and taxpayers”.

 Another person proposed that a session should not proceed if a certain number of MPs were not present, with penalties for those who did not attend.


The above is posted in www.theindependent.sg and Sylvia Lim was seen asking the House how Mindef determines the value and pricing of a contract, especially the one concerning F35s and the spending of $2.75b. What is not surprising is the nearly empty House, and you could literally count the number of MPs looking so indifferent and disinterested when Sylvia was talking.

Of course the picture only showed a small section of the Parliament and the rest of the House could be fully occupied. But looking at the picture it tells a very pathetic story about the Singapore Parliament at face value. Who was there and who was not there? Was there a quorum? Think should have. Even if the rest of the seats not shown were fully occupied, the picture still shows a substantial number of MPs, including the Speaker, were not there.

Is this a normal thing, something acceptable? Obviously from the comments mentioned above, they were furious and felt cheated. And half empty and very empty, not sure how empty Parliament has been a thing for a long time, often shown on CNA. By now this is taken as the norm, this is what Singapore Parliament is.  I thought when the opposition MPs spoke, the Whip would make sure govt MPs would be present to make a stand or to question and challenge them. No, not necessary anymore?

Or maybe half a house is good enough to deal with the handful of opposition MPs.

What do you think? MPs and Ministers not interested in attending Parliament or Parliament has nothing important to discuss, talking about condoms and dog and cats?

PS. This Covid19 is good for Parliament attendance. Blame it on the virus.

Covid19 -What will Singapore do next?

What will the Singapore xxxxxxxxxxxxx do next?

Lower the Code Orange to Code Yellow, remove some existing restrictions, open the floodgates to allow any Tom Dick and Harry to come to Singapore and freely distribute the corona-viruses?

Above is a comment by an anonymous blogger asking what would Singapore do next given the experience of Italy with infected cases shooting to high heavens? Now, how to answer such a question to be meaningful?  I know many people are wondering if Singapore would continue with its open leg policy to let every wildlife to come in as it means money, plenty of easy money in terms of levies and fees and also to boost up a dying economy that is struggling to stay off the recession path.

Let's look at the statistics available on the Covid19 pandemic and see if they make any good sense and can help Singapore govt to work out a sensible immigration policy that could still allow it to continue to collect easy money by allowing more wildlife to come in to provide jobs for Singaporeans. Look at the below chart provided by CNA and the countries that are most affected by the Covid19 virus.

NOVEL CORONAVIRUS CASES

PLACES	CONFIRMED CASES	REPORTED DEATHS
China	80,695	3,097
South Korea	7,313	50
Iran	6,566	194
Italy	5,883	233
France	949	16
Germany	795	0
Cruise ship (Diamond Princess)	696	7
Japan	455	6
Spain	374	8
Switzerland	281	1
United States	213	19
United Kingdom	210	2
Belgium	200	0
Netherlands	188	1
Sweden	161	0
Norway	147	0
Singapore	138	0
Hong Kong	114	3
Austria	99	0
Malaysia	99	0

Click to see more

As of 8:19pm Mar 8, 2020

Statistically speaking, not my personal opinion, there is a clear statement from the above chart that says Covid19 is a disease of rich countries. Look, other than Malaysia and Singapore, no SE Asian country or South Asian or African country is seriously affected, did not even deserve to be in the chart. What does this mean? The virus likes rich people, likes to go to rich countries, likes to go for cruises, likes to go to churches, to casinos, and other than China, S Korea and Japan, it has a penchant for Europeans, and this is only the beginning. More and more Europeans and Americans would be visited by the virus.

What has this got to say about Singapore's open leg immigration policy? Can one use the above statistics to say that wildlife from poor SE Asia, South Asia and Africa are safe bets and can continue to come in freely, free from Covid19 virus, or at least the chances are very slim? This looks like a piece of good news for Singapore's immigration dependent economy. Can continue to do as before, no need to stop wildlife from coming in if they are from poor countries.

What do you think? My use of statistics make sense or not?

Would our politicians use the above statistics to justify the continuation of the open leg immigration policy to grow our economy?