Singapore on Friday raised its pandemic preparedness system level after the coronavirus was detected on more people bringing the tally up to 33. The level was raised to orange after the new cases were detected. It has reached the same level as the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome virus outbreak and H1N1 influenza that happened in 2009.
The new cases of the virus were not linked
The four people who have been detected with the virus have no connection with the previous cases nor do they have a travel history to China. During a press conference, the Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the country is prepared for the possible scenarios and will be ready to manage the situation. He also added that the key is quick detection and managing the local spread of the virus.
The heightened alert level came after three people all unrelated were found with the virus on Saturday. The Ministry said that they were able to detect the virus because all hospitals in the country have started to test for the virus in all the patients with pneumonia.
The code orange is specifically to raise awareness. The colour-coded system of DORSCON, Disease Outbreak Response System Condition, for the mysterious new virus reached the orange level after surpassing the Yellow level on Friday.
What does the DORSCON system say?
DORSCON is adopted to convey to the citizens if the disease is mild or severe. As the colour level goes high the domestic transmission and the intensity of the spread will change.
The green level means minimal disruption and that there is less threat but the people should be maintaining social responsibility and good personal hygiene while looking out for health adversaries. The Yellow level conveys the same message as the Green level but with more intensity.
The Orange level means that there is moderate disruption and there would be quarantine issued with temperature screening. Apart from the social responsibility and hygiene, the government will issue the measure which the citizens will have to comply with.
The final alert level is red. It means that the country is going through major disruption because of the virus spreading. Under this, the government will issue school closures and work from home measures. The government will also issue social distancing where the people will be asked to avoid public places. As the code reached orange the shoppers have started to panic and started to buy food and water to keep safe.
Lockheed Martin and others dropped out of the airshow
After the impact of the coronavirus started to grow in the Southeast Asian country, the Pentagon has decided to lessen the size of the delegation travelling to Singapore for the airshow. The spreading virus has caused several to pull out from the show. Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews said in a statement that the Undersecretary of Defense Ellen Lord will no longer attend the show because of the circumstances.
Lord was Pentagon's lead representative at the event. Lockheed is the first major company from the US to pull out of the event. The airshow will happen next week but the organisers want to limit the number of public visits. Bombardier, Textron, and General Dynamics' Gulfstream division also pulled out of the event after the raised levels of a possible pandemic.
