Category: Singapuraku

MOH: 50% Of Zika Cases Involve Foreign Nationals

Half of the Zika cases in Singapore are foreigners who live or work here, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (Sept 1).

Out of 115 cases, 57 are foreigners. The largest group is 23 people from China, followed by 15 from India and 10 from Bangladesh. Six cases are Malaysians, and one case each from Indonesia, Myanmar and Taiwan.

“All had mild illness. Most have recovered while the rest are recovering well,” said the MOH spokesperson.

Earlier on Sunday (Aug 28), the MOH said that 36 foreign workers at a construction site at 60 Sims Drive had been infected.

The ministry announced Singapore’s first case of locally-transmitted Zika on Saturday, involving a 47-year-old Malaysian woman who lived in Block 102 Aljunied Crescent.

Meanwhile, Malaysia reported its first Zika case on Thursday, involving a 58-year-old woman who visited her daughter in Singapore on Aug 19. Her daughter, a resident in Paya Lebar which has seen Zika cases, was confirmed as being infected with the mosquito-borne virus on Aug 30.

In Singapore, efforts to contain Zika’s spread continued on Thursday morning with thermal fogging operations observed in the areas surrounding Aljunied Crescent and Bedok North Ave 3, which has emerged as a potential cluster after three confirmed cases were reported. Health and environment officers were also spotted lifting drain covers to check for any breeding sites.

Residents in Bedok who spoke to TODAY on Thursday were largely unruffled by the latest development.

“Life still goes on… It’s just a pity that the virus has hit our island and spread like wildfire,” said Mr Stephen Gomez, 61, a resident at Blk 402 Bedok North Ave 3.

Housewife Madam Zhao Hai Ying, 27, said she would take more precautions by checking if her two young children had any mosquito bites. “But you can’t be so (fixated) on this, we just have to be a little more careful,” she added.

Office manager Sally Lim, 43, said that Zika was not “as serious” as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), and that there was “nothing to be worried about”.

However, she noted that some of her relatives who had originally intended to visit her this weekend at her home in Bedok had decided to cancel the visit.

Source: www.todayonline.com

September 2, 2016
Pregnant Women With Zika Symptoms Should Get Themselves Tested

The Zika Clinical Advisory Group, comprising experts in obstetrics, paediatrics, infectious diseases and laboratory capabilities, was unanimous about offering free testing to pregnant women islandwide with Zika symptoms, as they fear the disease could have spread beyond the current outbreak area.

Professor Arijit Biswas, who chairs the nine-member group set up in February, said the biggest concern for Zika is its effect on pregnancy.

“We might miss some (cases),” he said, if tests were restricted to only those in the outbreak area in Singapore’s central-eastern district including Aljunied, Sims Drive and Kallang Way.

“So we decided to make the net wider.”

But these women should have at least three Zika symptoms within the past two weeks:

– a fever even if it is as low as 37 deg C for only one day,

– Rash that is usually red, flat and itchy and in more than one part of the body. Women in the second half of their pregnancy often have rash caused by pregnancy hormones, so that alone is not enough.

– any one of the following: joint or muscle ache, red eyes or headache.

They would need a referral from their doctor who would assess their condition and arrange for them to be tested. They could also go directly to a hospital emergency department.

But Prof Biswas, who is a senior consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH), said women without such recent symptoms should not go for the tests, which would not show if they had been infected some weeks earlier.

Source: www.straitstimes.com

September 2, 2016
Zika Beware, WP Launches Operation Kaki Bukit!

Operation Kaki Bukit. 1 Sep 2016, 1930hrs.

More than 40 volunteers in six teams led by MPs Sylvia Lim, Png Eng Huat, Faisal Manap, Low Thia Khiang, Chen Show Mao and NCMP Daniel Goh knocked on doors to check on residents in 14 blocks of flats in the affected cluster in Bedok North Ave 3 and St 3. Too bad Pritam Singh, Dennis Tan and Leon Perera were overseas on work trips.

We advised residents about the symptoms and spread of the virus and collected information on vulnerable persons. We handed out flyers to inform everyone that Town Council would be conducting urgent floor-to-floor fogging of the common corridor and general area on Friday.

We gave out NEA brochures on Dengue and Zika and the 5-step Mozzie Wipeout. We didn’t have enough NEA brochures, so we made our own version to give out if we run out of the NEA version.

We could sense a strong collective spirit and appreciation of the combined efforts by government agencies, town councils, MPs, volunteers and grassroots. We will continue with the control measures and outreach efforts to fight Zika.

Source: Aljunied GRC

September 2, 2016
Policeman Admits Taking $35,000 From Suspect

A police officer has admitted receiving $35,000 in bribes to help a man avoid being charged with taking upskirt videos.

Staff Sergeant Woo Poh Liang, 29, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two corruption charges as well as six unrelated charges of buying illegal 4-D lottery tickets, placing bets with a bookmaker on the 2014 World Cup and acting as a runner for a bookmaker.

Woo was an investigation officer at Clementi Police Division when he took bribes from Filipino Angelo Salvador Beltran, 45, in 2014.

He has been suspended from service since January last year.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Norman Yew said that on Sept 10, 2014, Woo took a statement from Beltran who had been caught taking an upskirt video at Jurong East MRT station on May 22.

Although a large number of upskirt videos were found on Beltran’s devices, Woo suggested writing in Beltran’s statement that he had taken just five of them.

Beltran went with the number as he understood that Woo was trying to do something favourable for him.

Six days later, Beltran handed a psychiatric report to Woo, who told him that his case was very serious.

Woo asked Beltran if they could trust each other, and Beltran said “yes”. He then told Beltran that his father was sick with cancer, and asked him for $100,000.

When Beltran said he had only $35,000, Woo asked for all the money that he had and Beltran said he would withdraw it the next day.

Woo then asked for $25,000 to be given to him the next day, in $1,000 bills. Beltran agreed as he knew that, in return, Woo would help him to avoid being charged.

On Sept 17, Beltran withdrew $25,000 and $10,000 from two bank accounts. Beltran handed the $25,000 in an envelope to Woo at a taxi stand, along with a letter requesting the return of his passport.

Later that day, Beltran texted Woo to say that he was required to travel to the United States for training the following week. Woo told him to bring a letter from his company to the police station.

When Beltran arrived, Woo told him that he could not get his passport back.

He took Beltran to an interview room and asked him how much money he had. When Beltran said he had only $10,000 left, Woo asked for the sum as well. Beltran then handed it over and Woo told him he had a “90 to 95 per cent chance of getting a warning”.

But the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not accept a recommendation that Beltran be given a stern warning. Woo told Beltran the next day that he would be charged, but that he would help him to get a lighter sentence.

On Sept 25 the same year, acting on his lawyer’s advice, Beltran complained to the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau about Woo’s conduct. Woo’s lawyer Nakoorsha A.K. will give his mitigation plea on Oct 11. The maximum punishment for corruption is a $100,000 fine and five years’ jail on each charge.

Source: The Straits Times

September 1, 2016
Mum Of Maris Stella Boy: He Had No Health Problems

He was a generous boy who loved to help others in need.

Zenneth Hue Yee Hon, 11, was also mature for his age and liked mingling with the elderly.

The Primary 5 pupil at Maris Stella High School died suddenly on Tuesday after he was found unconscious in the school bus.

He had been unwell over the weekend and did not attend school on Monday, but the cause of death is still unknown.

Yesterday, his mother Jennifer Lim recalled that about a week ago, Zenneth had repeatedly reminded her to be a good daughter to her mother.

She told The New Paper: “After I had a minor disagreement with my mother, he told me, ‘Please be more filial to grandma, don’t argue with her, take good care of her’.”

While the boy had often shown empathy for the elderly, Madam Lim still found his words odd. ”He had never said such things before,” she said.

Heaving a sigh, a teary-eyed Madam Lim, who is in her 40s, then added: “I think I know why he kept reminding me to be more filial to my mother. Maybe he knew he would be leaving us soon.”

Madam Lim, who works in the health industry, said Zenneth, an only child, started feeling unwell in school on Friday morning.

The school called her and Madam Lim told Zenneth to phone her brother, who then picked up his nephew and took him back to his Woodleigh condominium home.

Later that day, Madam Lim took her son to a clinic and found that he had a high fever. His body temperature was 41 deg C.

He was given medication and spent Saturday resting at home.

As he was still feverish on Sunday, his father decided to take him to another doctor at a different clinic.

Zenneth felt much better after taking the medicine given by the second doctor, and his body temperature returned to normal.

He did not go to school on Monday, and was in the school bus on the way to school the next morning when he lost consciousness.

TRIED TO WAKE UP

The bus driver thought the boy was asleep and tried to wake him up. When Zenneth did not respond, the Singapore Civil Defence Force was notified at around 6.55am.

An ambulance took him to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital (KKH), where he was pronounced dead about two hours later.

Correcting TNP’s report yesterday that said she and her husband were overseas at the time, Madam Lim said she was at home getting ready for work when she received a phone call about Zenneth.

“I immediately rushed down to the hospital. I was shocked. Zenneth was healthy and had no pre-existing health problems,” she said.

Her mother, who wanted to be known only as Madam Swee, 64, told TNP she was at work at a Serangoon Gardens coffee shop when Zenneth’s godfather rushed in to tell her that the boy was in KKH.

Madam Swee, who also has a 10-year-old granddaughter, took a taxi there only to find out that Zenneth had died.

With tears welling in her eyes, she said in Mandarin: “My daughter was so consumed by grief that she could barely stand up.

“Nurses shook their heads sadly when they saw me, and said the medical team had tried their best, but failed to save my grandson.”

When TNP visted Zenneth’s wake at the void deck of Block 411, Serangoon Central, yesterday afternoon, his loved ones had gathered to await the arrival of his body.

When the body arrived at around 3pm, they burst into tears while standing near his casket.

Madam Swee said she will always remember Zenneth as a loving boy who enjoyed eating chee cheong fun and xiao long bao (steamed pork dumplings).

“Whenever he saw old people selling tissue paper, he would insist on buying some just to help them,” she said.

“And every Mother’s Day, he would give cards and gifts to both his mother and me.”

Zenneth’s maternal uncle, who lives with Zenneth’s family, said he will miss his nephew.

The driver in his 40s, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lim, said: “Similarly, on Father’s Day, he would make cards for both his father and me. He was a very generous boy.”

Zenneth will be cremated today.

Police are investigating the unnatural death.

I think I know why he kept reminding me to be more filial to my mother. Maybe he knew he would be leaving us soon.

– Madam Jennifer Lim, Zenneth’s mother

I immediately rushed down to the hospital. I was shocked. Zenneth was healthy and had no pre-existing health problems.

– His mother, Madam Lim

Source: The New Paper

September 1, 2016