As the Coronavirus continues to dominate the worldwide news cycle, we're finding out on a daily basis how different countries are responding to the unprecedented outbreak.
On this morning’s Ryan Tubridy Show, Irishman Cameron O’Connor, who lives and works in Singapore, told Ryan that the response of the authorities there to the spread of the virus seemed to be successfully containing its worst effects.
"We’ve 160 confirmed cases, there’ve been three discharged today, 93 people have been discharged, remaining in hospital sixty and no one’s died."
Singapore’s population is pretty similar to Ireland’s, at about 5.5 million people, so Ryan wanted to know what they’ve done there that seems to be containing the Coronavirus. Speedy government action was key, according to Cameron.
The Singapore authorities controlled the spread of information, making sure rumours didn’t get ahead of the facts: "There’s a government text message every day. There’s a government website, gov.sg, here’s all the colour codes, we’re at orange, and if we move to red, this is what’s going to happen."
Businesses in Singapore have been instructed to make sure their contingency plans are robust and a lot of offices will have a team A and a team B, neither of which are allowed to meet to preserve continuity.
The president went on YouTube to reassure the population that all critical supplies are available and the hospital system is prepared. Their tracing system is extremely thorough. Anyone who has come into contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19 has to self-quarantine and that’s closely monitored by the authorities.
"It’s quite strict if you break that quarantine, like, they have already removed some people from the country and some have been fined."
Life goes on – although large gatherings have been cancelled – and what Cameron calls "a new normal" has taken hold. And from what he says, it sounds like the population are being sensible and following the advice of medical experts.
"Every building you go into you’re temperature-checked on the way in and you fill out a form to say that you haven’t been to China and that you feel well and that goes into a master database, so if there are any outbreaks, they know who’s been in that building, or that bank, that day."
Cameron has children in Singapore that go to an ex-pat school. The kids are temperature-checked on the way into school and the school is in constant contact with parents and has a plan B to move to distance learning, if the national status changes to red. And, following the national example, most of the big activities have been cancelled or postponed.
"You just get this reassurance that it’s in control. You feel that everyone’s stepping up, whether it’s governmental authorities or school authorities, and it seems to be all coordinated… And everyone’s just playing their part, everyone’s making sensible decisions."
And it seems like the strategies adopted by the Singapore government are having the desired effect. You can hear Cameron’s full chat with Ryan here.
If you’re concerned about COVID-19, the HSE’s Coronavirus page is here.
