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The OutbreakJuly 2020Issue the Seventh

Singapore votes in masks and returns the PAP with a smaller share

Singapore votes in masks and returns the PAP with a smaller share, India passes a million cases yet lifts its night curfew, and Singapore’s economy falls into recession.

The PhotographVoters sanitise their hands at a polling station as voting got under way in Singapore’s general election.Edgar Su/Reuters, July 10, 2020See the photograph →

SINGAPORE, Friday 10 July.—Singaporeans voted in masks and disposable gloves on Friday and returned the People’s Action Party to power with 83 of Parliament’s 93 seats. The Workers’ Party won 10, its best result ever.

The PAP took 61.24 per cent of the vote, down from 69.9 per cent in 2015, and the Workers’ Party won the new four-member Sengkang GRC. Turnout was 96 per cent; voting is compulsory.

At the polling stations voters sanitised their hands and pulled on disposable gloves before taking a ballot paper, and officials in face shields took temperatures. Covid-19 patients and people on Quarantine Order could not vote. Those on Stay-Home Notice at home, or running a temperature, had a special hour from 7pm to 8pm.

Been queuing for almost 1.5 hours now at Sengkang, Palm View Primaryidentitty69, Reddit user in r/singapore

“Been queuing for almost 1.5 hours now at Sengkang, Palm View Primary,” one voter wrote on Reddit’s r/singapore. The Elections Department kept polls open until 10pm instead of 8pm.

“I think it’s OK to vote during a pandemic because the conditions aren’t that severe at this point and all necessary precautions are being taken,” said Malini Nathan, a 42-year-old communications executive.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said: “It’s not as strong a mandate as I hoped for but it’s a good mandate.” It was not a feel-good election, he said, and it was right that the Workers’ Party leader, Pritam Singh, be formally designated Leader of the Opposition.

“Today’s results are positive but we have to hit the ground running,” Mr Singh said.

Al Jazeera, July 11 · Bernama, July 12 · Reuters (via The Wire), July 10 · Al Jazeera (from news agencies), July 10 · Reddit (r/singapore), July 10 · Mothership.sg, July 10 · Mothership.sg, July 11 · Elections Department Singapore, July 1

India passes a million cases, and lifts its night curfew

The Paravur-Varkala road in the Kollam metropolitan area, barricaded and its shops shuttered after the spread of the coronavirus.
The Paravur-Varkala road in the Kollam metropolitan area, barricaded and its shops shuttered after the spread of the coronavirus.Photograph by Arunvrparavur, July 22, 2020 · CC BY-SA 4.0

NEW DELHI, Wednesday 29 July.—India’s count of Covid-19 cases passed 10 lakh on Friday 17 July, after a record rise of 34,965 in a single day, Union health ministry figures showed. Deaths then stood at 25,602.

By 31 July the World Health Organization put India at 1,638,870 cases, 55,078 of them new, and 35,747 deaths.

Yet the country is opening further. From 1 August the Home Ministry’s Unlock 3 guidelines lift the 10pm-to-5am night curfew, and gyms and yoga institutes may reopen on 5 August. Schools, colleges, cinemas and the Metro stay shut until 31 August.

Last Eid, we could not do any business and yet again we are back to square oneAijaz Shahdhar

In Kashmir, though, restrictions returned this month to 88 zones of Srinagar district, with Eid-ul-Adha due at the month’s end.

“Last Eid, we could not do any business and yet again we are back to square one,” said Aijaz Shahdhar, chairman of the Kashmir Trade Alliance. “How will small-time traders survive?”

BOOM Live, July 17 · World Health Organization, July 31 · The Tribune (India), July 29 · The Tribune (Chandigarh), July 14

Human trials begin for India’s home-grown vaccine

HYDERABAD, Wednesday 15 July.—Bharat Biotech has begun human trials of Covaxin, India’s first home-grown Covid-19 vaccine, with the first phase starting on 15 July, the Hyderabad company said.

“This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial on 375 volunteers in India,” the company said. The inactivated vaccine was developed with the Indian Council of Medical Research and the National Institute of Virology, Pune.

A 2 July letter from ICMR’s Director-General to 12 trial institutions set the aim “to launch the vaccine for public health use latest by 15th August 2020”. The company’s own trial registry entry projects 15 months, and experts have doubted the timeline.

This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial on 375 volunteers in IndiaBharat Biotech

On 4 July ICMR said the letter “was meant to cut unnecessary red tape, without bypassing any necessary process”.

IANS (via Morung Express), July 17 · ThePrint, July 4

Dormitories to be cleared by 7 August, says Wong

SINGAPORE, Friday 31 July.—Singapore expects to clear all its Covid-19-hit foreign worker dormitories by 7 August, apart from 17 blocks kept for quarantine, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said on 24 July.

“By August 7, we expect to clear all dormitories, and the vast majority of migrant workers,” said Mr Wong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force. Some 28,000 workers were still in isolation.

The Ministry of Health still confirmed 396 new cases by noon on Friday, the vast majority Work Permit holders living in dormitories; three were in the community.

By August 7, we expect to clear all dormitories, and the vast majority of migrant workersLawrence Wong

“The fight is not over, and there’s still a long way to go,” Mr Wong said.

Mothership.sg, July 24 · Ministry of Health, Singapore, July 31

In Brief

Amitabh Bachchan in hospital with Covid-19

MUMBAI, Saturday 11 July.—Amitabh Bachchan, 77, said on Twitter that he had tested positive and been moved to Nanavati Hospital, which says he is stable with mild symptoms. His son Abhishek was also admitted. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and the couple’s eight-year-old daughter tested positive too and will quarantine at home, Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.

The News Minute · Associated Press (via KSAT); all July 11, 2020.

Singapore in technical recession

SINGAPORE, Tuesday 14 July.—Singapore’s economy shrank 12.6 per cent on the year in the April-to-June quarter, and 41.2 per cent on an annualised basis, putting the country in a technical recession for the first time since 2009, the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s advance estimate showed. MTI blamed the Circuit Breaker and weak global demand.

Mothership · Ministry of Trade and Industry (Singapore); all July 14, 2020.

TraceTogether Token ‘not a tracking device’, says GovTech

SINGAPORE.—About 10,000 TraceTogether Tokens have gone out since 28 June, first to vulnerable seniors. The device logs nearby users by Bluetooth, and its data is read only if the holder tests positive; only the Ministry of Health holds the key. GovTech says it wanted a simple device “to assure everybody that it is not a tracking device”.

GovTech Singapore (TechNews), July 6, 2020.

Start The Outbreak from issue one tomorrow

Wayback Wire · No. 7 · July 2020