Serious Many Pappys don't like OngYK..not Team player.

[jw5]

from straitstimes.com:

30 fishmongers, assistants tested positive for Covid-19: Ong Ye Kung​

SINGAPORE - Out of 1,120 fishmongers and assistants who were tested over the weekend, 30 were found to be Covid-19 positive, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday (July 20).

At a virtual press conference by the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19, Mr Ong said that 28 markets and food centres have been linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster so far.

Of 182 new community Covid-19 cases announced on Tuesday, 135 are linked to the Jurong Fishery Port. This brings the total number of cases in the cluster to 314.

To stem the recent spike in community cases, the task force announced on Tuesday that Singapore would revert to phase two (heightened alert) restrictions from July 22 to Aug 18, with tightened measures such as no dining in allowed at eateries. Social gatherings will be limited to two people as well.

Mr Ong said when the Jurong Fishery Port cluster broke out, cases were almost immediately discovered at Hong Lim and Chong Boon markets. He added that it probably preceded the KTV cluster.

“We issued health risk warnings to the fishmongers which required them by law to get themselves tested and then isolated until they receive their test results,” added the minister, saying the National Environment Agency was mobilised on Sunday to tell fishmongers to stop selling fish.

Said Mr Ong: "It was a nervous weekend, because we knew that hundreds and thousands of fishmongers and their assistants who visited the Jurong Fishery Port may have been infected, and then went out to the community to sell their fish... And because fish was in short supply, many shoppers, patrons and residents actually went to queue up for fish."

He noted that unlike the KTV cluster, the authorities are not seeing the numbers in the Jurong Fishery Port cluster decaying. They are instead still rising.

Singapore’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak said the growing number of cases being picked up from wet market testing remains a cause for concern.

“A number of these individuals are seniors. It is not surprising, given the setting in which we found them (the cases) in the wet markets, as well as at the fishery port.

“We do know that those who are seniors have a higher risk of getting a serious infection and complications from Covid-19 infection... even dying from infection,” he said.

Mr Ong said with at least one infected resident per market, testing has been widened to more people in the community, such as residents living in the blocks around the markets.

They have been advised to minimise social interaction and stay home, especially if they have unvaccinated seniors at home. This is to prevent spillover to the larger community.

Unlike the KTV cluster, which broke out last week and “spread among a younger population and certain network of people”, Mr Ong said, the wave of infections from the fishery port affects markets, food centres and a much wider spectrum of the population, especially seniors.

“The porous nature of our food centres and hawker centres also increases the risk of cryptic and silent transmission that is hard to detect. Hence, after thinking long and hard, we decided we have to revert to phase two (heightened alert),” he said.

Seven cases linked to the cluster were reported on July 17, 42 on July 18 and 106 on July 19.

Of the 182 new local cases on Tuesday, Mr Ong said, 85 individuals, or almost 47 per cent, were isolated before detection.

"So, tomorrow, when you see the numbers go up, it means these cases were already quarantined and isolated... they are not passing (the virus) to others when they develop symptoms, so they are much less of a risk."

He added: "As you see that happening, you should also see us turning the corner, with the numbers coming down. That's how the trajectory often behaves."

 

[jw5]

OYK explains why it was decided to roll back to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert).

Ong Ye Kung​

45 mins·

I have received several valid queries, including from my friends on WhatsApp, asking why roll back to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) when we plan to live with COVID-19? Why should everyone else pay for the mistakes of people who were irresponsible?
The Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) explained this during our press conference yesterday, but let me summarise the key points here.
Like everyone, I am upset with the irresponsible behaviour of people in the KTV cluster, but it is not the reason for the reversion to Phase 2(HA).
In fact, the MTF thought we could control the KTV cluster, and decided to keep F&B establishments open with the 2/5 pax rule, i.e. allow five pax if all are fully vaccinated.
Indeed, the number of cases from this cluster has come down over the past few days.
What caused a slide back to Phase 2 (HA) is the Jurong Fishery Port cluster. Unfortunately, while our fishmongers and stall assistants were going about earning an honest living, they got infected at the Port. As they went on to work at various markets around the island, many more cases in the community were seeded.
Markets are frequented by seniors, many of whom remain unvaccinated. This is most worrying, and we are at risk of an uncontrollable rise in cases, which could potentially result in many severe illnesses or even deaths. So we need to preemptively tighten up social activities.

Some asked me why suspend restaurants, given that there have been no cases detected in those settings.

Unfortunately it does not work like that. If 5 friends meet for dinner, each has 5 people at home, who in turn meet their friends in groups of 5, we have a network of 5x5x5=125 connections for the virus to work itself through. This will turbo charge the Jurong Fishery Port cluster further.

What is positive is that 50% of our population has received two doses. It is a good rate but needs to go higher. This percentage will be going up by 1 percentage point every day. In 2 weeks, we will be at 64% or more. That will put us in a much stronger and resilient position when we review the Phase 2 (HA) rules.

We are so close to being in a much stronger and confident position. Given the gravity of the Jurong Fishery Port cluster, we felt it is not the time to risk it all now.

It’s a frustrating situation, but I hope with my explanation, we understand why the measures are necessary.

 

[jw5]

OYK has good news that more seniors are getting vaccinated.

Ong Ye Kung​

20 mins·

Some good news today. With all the efforts to reach out to seniors, involving GPs, volunteers, mobile vaccination teams, friends and relatives, more seniors are coming forward to get #vaccinated.
For the past three days, the number of seniors aged 70 and above who came forward to get their first dose was about 1,000 a day, double the number before. Our efforts are making a difference!
If we can keep this up for several days or weeks, hopefully we can push the vaccination rate amongst seniors to above 80%.
Keep showing our seniors care, love and concern.

 

[kaninabuchaojibye]

OYK has good news that more seniors are getting vaccinated.

Ong Ye Kung​

20 mins·

Some good news today. With all the efforts to reach out to seniors, involving GPs, volunteers, mobile vaccination teams, friends and relatives, more seniors are coming forward to get #vaccinated.
For the past three days, the number of seniors aged 70 and above who came forward to get their first dose was about 1,000 a day, double the number before. Our efforts are making a difference!
If we can keep this up for several days or weeks, hopefully we can push the vaccination rate amongst seniors to above 80%.
Keep showing our seniors care, love and concern.

View attachment 117093

and once the target for seniors is achieved, can open borders fully with india and let more cecas in...haaaa

 

[jw5]

and once the target for seniors is achieved, can open borders fully with india and let more cecas in...haaaa

Hopefully not, since the vaccines are only 69% effective against delta variant.

https://www.sammyboy.com/threads/on...re-69-effective-against-delta-variant.307346/

 

[jw5]

OYK awards bursaries to deserving students.

Ong Ye Kung​

10 hrs·

Last weekend, we held a non-contact, safe distanced Edusave and Community Bursary Award for Higher Education. It has been a challenging time for students, but many told me they were going through internship, moving on to Higher Nitec, Polys, Arts Institutions.
Despite an unprecedented pandemic, and due to the hard work and co-operation of all educators, parents and students, we kept education going. There shall be no lost generation because of COVID-19.
#MakeSembawangSpecial

 

[tyudm]

Still got lanjiao supporter

 

[jw5]

Still got lanjiao supporter

View attachment 117183

Kenny thinks PAP is a party with food, drinks and dancing, that's why he is supporter at PAP.

 

[tyudm]

Very soon he will lose his job at Courts

 

[jw5]

OYK reminding us that he used to be transport ministar.

Ong Ye Kung​

4 hrs·

Successive Transport Ministers have been trying to re-imagine transport to promote green and healthy modes - walk, cycle and ride.
During my stint as Transport Minister, I pushed for a few projects, one of which is in Sembawang.
This involved partially pedestrianising Woodlands Ring Road, by closing one road lane to convert it to a pedestrianised lane, and the other lanes for public buses only.
During the pilot phase, LTA took in feedback from residents and further adjusted the scheme. Residents can look forward to more extensive covered linkways, cycling path and a new bus stop.
We all share a common hope — to create more inclusive and liveable spaces as Kampung Admiralty continues to be a popular community destination.
#MakeSembawangSpecial

 

[jw5]

OYK hopes new transport ministar Iswaran will continue his good work.

 

[jw5]

from msn.com:

Penalising those involved in KTV cluster 'would cost us more in the long run': Ong Ye Kung​

SINGAPORE — Penalising those involved in Singapore's KTV cluster of COVID-19 cases would discourage people from coming forward for testing and make it more difficult to contain the outbreak, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Monday (26 July).

"We... do not want individuals, especially those who are infected, to avoid getting tested and treated, or hide where they have been from contact tracers, because they are afraid of getting penalised.

"This will make it harder to contain the spread, and would cost us more in the long run," said Ong while delivering a Ministerial Statement in Parliament.

He made the comments in response to Jurong GRC Member of Parliament Xie Yao Quan, who asked if the government would consider making the individuals in the KTV cluster pay their COVID-19 medical expenses in full.

Ong noted that while many are upset with the "irresponsible behaviour" of those involved in the cluster, the government still had a "public responsibility to ensure that everyone receives the medical care that they need".

Following the detection of several positive cases among KTV patrons and lounge hostesses on 12 July, the cluster grew rapidly and reached 237 cases as of Sunday. The Ministry of Health has since imposed a suspension of all pivoted nightlife establishments till 30 July.

"We were on the path towards progressive opening, and the KTV cluster was a major unexpected bump on the road," said Ong.

He explained that the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) – which Ong co-chairs – took the advice of medical experts amid the outbreak. The MTF decided that, given the government's extensive contact tracing and testing efforts and the fact that Singapore had a near 50 per cent two-dose vaccination rate at the time, the KTV cluster would not significantly affects plans to for the country's reopening.

"Based on how the cluster has developed, we still believe that was the correct call," said Ong, noting the low number of cases linked to the cluster seen over the past three days.

'Distinct' Delat variant​

In his speech, Ong reiterated that it was the larger Jurong Fishery Port cluster that led to the government moving Singapore back to its Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) posture.

With cases first detected on 16 July at the port and Hong Lim Market and Food Centre, infections quickly spread to more within the community via markets that took deliveries from the port. As of Sunday, the cluster has grown to 792 cases, making it Singapore's largest community cluster since the pandemic began.

"The preliminary phylogenetic findings suggest that while the KTV and Jurong Fishery Port clusters were all driven by the Delta variant, it is distinct from the Delta variant that infected Tan Tock Seng Hospital and the Changi Airport clusters.

"The recent clusters have a Delta strain that is more closely related to what we detected in imported cases from our immediate region," said Ong.

He added that slight genetic differences have also been noticed between the strains in the two clusters, which suggest that there were multiple events that introduced the virus to the respective groups.

While daily infection numbers have been over 100 for the past few days, Ong said the situation is "stabilising" and expressed confidence that this latest wave of transmission can be progressively suppressed through more testing and tracing.

Given the transmissibility of the Delta variant, he said that stopping infections entirely is "probably no longer possible".

"The only possible way to eradicate infections is to go into a hard Circuit Breaker. For at least a month, probably, too. But we don’t want to be locked up. Further, even if we do lock ourselves up, when the CB ends and we open up, cases will rise again...

"We must instead find ways to live with this virus, safely," said Ong.

 

[jw5]

from msn.com:

COVID: Don’t focus too much on infection numbers, says Health Minister​

Singaporeans, it’s time we pay less attention to the daily COVID-19 numbers and focus more on the number of people who have actually fallen physically ill due to the coronavirus.

That’s the message by Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung in Parliament today, noting that the surge in infection numbers doesn’t necessarily lead to severe illnesses or deaths since more people were getting vaccinated. Since Singapore is on the road to treating COVID-19 as endemic, Ong said that Singaporeans should not focus so much on the daily number of reported cases and perhaps look at the number of people in severe cases instead.

“The first I think is a shift away from always focusing on the infection numbers. We used to get a shock when we see high daily numbers, because this will mean a week or two from then we will see more severe illnesses and deaths,” Ong said today. “As we know that with vaccinations, high infection numbers would not necessarily mean more sickness and deaths.”

Out of the more than 100 daily cases in the past week, only 14 of them involved severe illnesses and do “not threaten our hospital capacity,” Ong added. He also noted that the perception is already starting to shift among Singaporeans.

The COVID-19 task force also revealed updates on their latest response to the pandemic, which will also include more relaxed measures for vaccinated Singaporeans and some changes to healthcare protocols.

Vaccinated individuals aged 45 to 59 who have been infected will be taken to community care facilities instead of directly to hospitals. Length of hospital and facility stays will be shortened while those who have completed vaccination can also isolate themselves at home.

The Health Ministry stopped publishing detailed information of infected persons in June, choosing to focus on informing the public about its vaccination progress and the number of people in severe cases.

About half of Singaporeans have completed their mRNA vaccination, bringing the country closer to reaching its 75% target by National Day on Aug. 9.

The nation yesterday reported 125 new COVID-19 cases mainly linked to the latest outbreak center Jurong Fishery Port. This brings Singapore’s total tally to 64,179 cases and 37 deaths.

 

[jw5]

from yahoo.com:

Sinovac submitted safety data for its vaccine: Ong Ye Kung​

SINGAPORE — Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac has recently submitted the required safety data for its CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine as part of its application for the Pandemic Special Access Route approval, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in Parliament on Monday (26 July).

The data on the efficacy of the Sinovac vaccine against the Delta variant is still building up, the co-chair of the multi-ministry taskforce on COVID-19 said.

Delivering his Ministerial Statement, Ong said the Health Sciences Authority and the Expert Committee are going through the various data regarding the vaccine.


“When the evidence justifies it, we will certainly want to extend the concessions to individuals who have received the Sinovac or other vaccines which may qualify.”

Ong, who was delivering his Ministerial Statement, said as of Sunday, about 72,000 persons have received at least one dose of the Sinovac vaccine, and about 17,000 persons have received their second doses.

Amongst those who have taken the vaccine, 28 per cent are Singapore citizens, and they are mostly young, according to Ong. For those who have taken the Sinovac vaccine and are seniors above 60 years old, less than 10 per cent are Singaporeans.

If the supply of 200,000 doses which the government has procured is insufficient to cater to the demand, private clinics can bring in additional supply under the Special Access Route, he added.

 

[jw5]

from yahoo.com:

COVID-19: Use of community care facilities to be stepped up – Ong Ye Kung​

SINGAPORE — There will be greater use of community care facilities instead of hospitals in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said in Parliament on Monday (26 July).

Delivering his Ministerial Statement, Ong spoke about the shifts in healthcare protocols and collective psychology in the pandemic.

“We cannot carry on with the current healthcare protocols (for COVID-19). They need to shift closer to how we treat influenza today, without extensive contact tracing and quarantine in dedicated facilities, and hospitalising only those who are very ill,” said Ong, who is also co-chair of the multi-ministry taskforce on COVID-19.

But this can only happen when the likelihood of developing very serious or life- threatening disease as a result of COVID-19 has been significantly reduced by effective vaccination of the population, he added.

As such, given the current rate of vaccinations, the authorities have started to take the first transition step to remodel the healthcare protocols.

Vaccinated individuals aged between 45 and 59 who test positive for Covid-19 and show no or mild symptoms can be directly admitted to community care facilities instead of going first to hospitals.

This was already the practice for all cases aged between 17 and 45 years, but the protocol has been expanded to include those up to age 59, Ong said.

With this change, up to 60 per cent of infected cases are expected to recover in community care facilities, instead of in acute care. In the next phase, perhaps 80 per cent can be admitted to community care facilities, and some can even recover at home, Ong added.

In addition, the authorities have shortened the length of stay in hospitals and community care facilities. Tests have shown that the viral load in infected persons who are fully vaccinated falls very rapidly, to a very low level after nine days.

Previously, most people generally were discharged only after 21 days, Ong said.

The authorities are now discharging fully vaccinated persons after 14 days from onset of illness with a seven-day leave of absence, so long as their tests show that they are COVID-19 negative or have very low viral loads.

“We are further reviewing our policy to allow fully vaccinated patients to be discharged even earlier, and to complete the rest of the isolation period at home, if their home environment is suitable.”

There will also be greater use of home quarantine, Ong said. For fully vaccinated persons under quarantine, they can now serve their quarantine at home instead of at a government quarantine facility, provided that their home is suitable for isolation.

“We expect up to 40 per cent of persons under quarantine can serve their quarantine at home, and this will go beyond 50 per cent in the coming few weeks as more people are vaccinated.”

Collective psychology​

Ong also spoke about a “palpable shift” in Singapore’s collective psychology during the pandemic.

There has been a shift away from always focusing on infection numbers and many people are “rightfully focusing” on the number of people with severe illnesses, Ong said.

A second shift is a greater acceptance of differentiated safe management measures, between those who are vaccinated and those who are not, according to Ong.

That was why the MTF decided on the 2/5 rule for restaurants recently, before it was scuttled with the reversion to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), Ong said. He was referring to a previous rule whereby two individuals regardless of vaccination status could dine in at restaurants while up to five individuals under specific conditions could do so including those who were fully vaccinated.

When Singapore’s population is very highly vaccinated and society has transitioned to living with COVID-19, there should be very little differentiation between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, Ong said.

“But during the period of transition, when we are still building up our resilience, differentiation by vaccination status is a practical way to open up some activities first, while protecting those who are still vulnerable.”

 

[jw5]

OYK wants SG to open up progressively.

Ong Ye Kung​

55 mins·

Are we still committed to the path towards a resilient society living with COVID-19?
The answer is a definite yes. This is the only way for us to regain normalcy, reconnect with the world, and bring hope for the future.
In Parliament today, my co-chairs and I outlined how we can open up progressively, as we raise our population vaccination coverage.
Daily infections have gone up in recent days but the number of patients with severe illness is kept low. All of them are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.
Currently, our population vaccination rate is going up by about 1 percentage point a day. By National Day, 70% will have received two doses. By early-September, perhaps almost 80%.
This means Singapore will have one of the world’s highest vaccination rates.
Singapore is in a unique position. We have achieved a very high vaccination rate without straining our healthcare system, or suffering high number of COVID-19 fatalities.
This uniqueness is a show of unity, and trust amongst people and between people and Govenment. We will forge ahead together.

 

[jw5]

from tnp.sg:

Situation stabilising with number of cases falling: Ong Ye Kung​

While there have been more than 100 Covid-19 infections daily over the past few days, including those linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster, the situation is stabilising, with the number of cases falling, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

The percentage of cases isolated or quarantined before they test positive for the virus is also rising - a positive sign, he told the House yesterday in a ministerial statement.

On July 19, there were 163 cases, with only 27 per cent isolated before detection. Lately, this figure hovers around 40 per cent, Mr Ong said, adding that the percentage can be further raised through contact tracing and testing.

The objective is not to stop transmissions completely, the minister noted. That is not possible, given how transmissible the Delta variant is and Singapore's reopening, he added.

"The only possible way to eradicate infections is to go into another hard circuit breaker... But we don't want to be locked up. Even if we do, once we open up, cases will rise again," Mr Ong said.

Eradication is not possible or sustainable - instead, vaccination holds the key to Singapore's transition to living with Covid-19 as an endemic disease, he added.

The cluster at Jurong Fishery Port, which had swelled to 792 cases as at Sunday, is still growing, but at a slower rate, Mr Ong said.

Over the past three days, daily infection numbers for the cluster were at 79, 79 and 46.

Of the 1,548 people tested, 43 were found to be positive, indicating that significant community transmission had most likely already silently occurred in the days prior to July 18, Mr Ong said.


The minister said that while preliminary phylogenetic findings suggest the Jurong Fishery Port cluster as well as a KTV one were driven by the Delta variant, this is distinct from the Delta variant that infected people in the clusters at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and Changi Airport previously.

Instead, the recent clusters involve a Delta strain that is closer to what has been detected in imported cases from Singapore's immediate region.

The task force has previously said it is likely the infection in the Jurong Fishery Port cluster was introduced by Indonesian or other fishing boats, and via multiple points.

 

[IhatePAP]

Waiting for Jinx Ong to jinx his whole party.

 

[jw5]

from channelnewsasia.com:

Hospital beds could fill up in a week if a COVID-19 cluster grows 'uncontrollably': Ong Ye Kung​

SINGAPORE: Protecting Singapore's healthcare system was a "deeper underlying reason" for going back to tighter COVID-19 measures in recent weeks, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Wednesday (Jul 28).

Speaking at a virtual awards ceremony for healthcare scholarships, Mr Ong explained in greater detail how rising COVID-19 cases could overwhelm Singapore's hospital capacity.

"The Jurong Fishery Port cluster was spawning clusters in many markets, which have to be closed. There is a risk that it transmits far and wide in our community, especially to seniors who frequent the markets," said Mr Ong.

"A quarter of them remain unvaccinated and they are at risk of falling very ill if they are infected with COVID-19," he added. "Against this risk, we look at our hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients."

Among Singapore's active COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday, 21 patients have serious illness requiring oxygen and two are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

More than 540 are in stable condition in hospitals, while another 1,234 are in community care facilities.

Singapore can open up about 1,000 ICU beds for critically ill COVID-19 patients if needed, Mr Ong said.

He noted that although "only a small handful" of ICU beds are now occupied by COVID-19 patients, authorities have already opened up close to 70 beds, which is double the number from two weeks ago.

"We are preparing to open up more ICU beds these few weeks," he said.

Singapore also increased the number of isolation beds for COVID-19 patients in hospitals to 1,000. About 80 per cent of these beds are currently occupied, some by suspected COVID-19 cases, said Mr Ong.

If the number of COVID-19 hospitalisations goes up further, more patients would have to be discharged to community care facilities, more beds would have to be repurposed for COVID-19, and hospitals may have to defer care and scale back beds for patients without COVID-19.

"The odds of a large surge in cases are stacked against us: We knew that when a cluster grows uncontrollably, infection numbers would double every seven to 10 days, which meant that hospital beds could fill up in a week. Beyond that, we could be overwhelmed," Mr Ong said.

This has happened in many countries around the world, he noted.

"Hospitals could not take in patients anymore. Very sick people had to be turned away, or lie along the corridors. Hospitals ran out of oxygen. Doctors had to choose who lives, who dies.

"That is why, in a pandemic like this, we protect our healthcare system robustly. We cannot let a human tragedy like this happen in Singapore," said Mr Ong.

Mr Ong also said that this is a difficult time for all healthcare workers.

"Many have not had a proper rest for the past 20 months. But it is also times like this that you see a profession’s true colours - how they unite, dedicate to their cause, take care of their patients, and of each other," he added.

A total of 164 scholarships were awarded on Wednesday, including awards for nursing, healthcare administration, community care and medicine.

A Healthcare Talent Scholarship was introduced this year for in-service administrators, allied health professionals, pharmacists and nurses to further their careers in healthcare administration, management and leadership.

Commending the scholarship recipients, Mr Ong said: "It is very important that scholarships are not just for the very young. All of us need to continue to learn throughout our lives and careers, hone our skills and knowledge, and reinvent ourselves from time to time, and we will support you to do so."

 

[jw5]

OYK tries to convince more seniors to get vaccinated.

Ong Ye Kung​

50 mins·

We still have about 187,000 seniors above 60 years old who have yet to receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine.
One of the common reasons is that the seniors, or their family members, are worried that post vaccination, they may get very sick, like heart attacks or strokes.
Heart attacks and strokes happen naturally within our population, with or without COVID-19 vaccinations. To see if COVID-19 vaccinations have led to more such diseases, I asked MOH to churn out the monthly numbers for public hospitals over the past 3.5 years.
The two graphs show that numbers have remained steady, despite the fact that number of seniors grew over the few years.
I hope these numbers provide some peace of mind for seniors and their family members, to go ahead and take the vaccines.
Besides vaccination centres, seniors can now just walk into any of the participating Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs), or polyclinics to receive their first dose of COVID-19 vaccination. No appointment needed.
Elderly with mobility issues can also arrange for their jabs to be done at home. Call 1800-650-6060.

#Vaccination protects us.