SINGAPORE – The number of new Zika cases fell to eight on Wednesday (Sept 7), according to figures from the Ministry of Health (MOH), but a new cluster could be forming.

As of noon, MOH has confirmed eight new cases of locally transmitted Zika virus infection, of which two were linked to the Aljunied Crescent/Sims Drive/Kallang Way/ Paya Lebar Way cluster.

One case was linked to the Bishan Street 12 cluster.

There is a potential new cluster involving one previously reported case and a new case on Wednesday, MOH said.

They both live in the Elite Terrace area in Siglap. The other four cases have no known links to any existing cluster.

Locally-transmitted Zika in Singapore

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The Straits Times, The New Paper

The total number of Zika cases transmitted locally is now 283.

Ms Dedina Wong, 39, who stays along Elite Park Avenue directly opposite Elite Terrace, said she is not overly concerned as she has always taken precautions against mosquitoes due to dengue.

“I sprayed my two kids with repellent or put patches on them when they go to the playground on a daily basis even before Zika was found in Singapore,” the housewife said.

Another resident Aloysius Koh, 15, said his family was also well-prepared.

They have stocked up on mosquito patches and repellent as they have always been wary of dengue, said the student, who has been staying at Elite Terrace all his life.

Fighting Zika: Which mosquito repellent to use

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The Straits Times, New Straits Times, Avon

Vector control operations to eradicate the Aedes mosquito, which spreads both Zika and dengue, continued in affected areas.

They include Aljunied Crescent, Sims Drive, Paya Lebar Way, Kallang Way, Circuit Road, Geylang East Central, Geylang East Avenue 1, Bedok North Avenue, Joo Seng Road, and Bishan Street 12.

As of Tuesday, 150 breeding habitats have been found and destroyed in the cluster areas, of which 99 are from homes, and 51 from outdoor areas, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said.

NEA will also be carrying out vector control operations and outreach efforts at Elite Terrace.

From Wednesday, members of the public can get updated information on Zika at NEA’s website: www.nea.gov.sg/zika and www.nea.gov.sg/zika-clusters.

This article was first published on September 08, 2016.
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Two sisters stand to share more than $170,000 from their late brother’s Central Provident Fund (CPF) account after proving that his marriage to a Chinese national was a sham.

Soon Chwee Guan – who was unemployed – wed Diao Yanmei, 47, in 2011 after apparently meeting her in an Ang Mo Kio coffee shop.

However, his sisters Soon Ah See, 56, and Soon Ah Choon, 54, did not find out about the marriage until after his death from a stroke aged 52 in August 2013.

They learnt that the money would go to his spouse automatically by law.

However, they believed it was a sham marriage.

Through their lawyer A. Rajandran, they filed a High court injunction to restrain the Board from releasing any money in Mr Soon’s CPF account.

It was granted in September 2013 and has been in place since.

According to court documents, Mr Soon did not tell his family about the marriage, despite living with his mother and sister in Bukit Batok.

In his written judgment on Tuesday, Judicial Commissioner Edmund Leow said he accepted the sisters’ submission that the defendant and the deceased had not entered into a genuine marriage.

“This was probably done so the defendant (Ms Diao) could bolster her chances of staying on in Singapore and working here,” he wrote.

“It is no coincidence that just a little over a week after the marriage, the defendant applied for a work permit.”

She was successful and got a job as a spa therapist.

Court documents also said that Mr Soon had told a friend Lee Hock Hoo, 71, that he had entered a sham marriage.

Mr Lee said in a testimony that the arrangement would enable the unemployed Mr Soon to have some money. He would be paid $4,000 by Ms Diao, and $400 every month.

Ms Diao, who also testified, claimed to love Mr Soon but could not say why.

She also claimed they would eat fish – even though Mr Soon did not eat fish and was allergic to seafood.

Ms Diao could not pinpoint the locations they had sex at.

Judge Leow also pointed out that she did not know how many siblings he had, which schools he attended, or which brand of beer he preferred.

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Students entering the National University of Singapore’s (NUS’) faculty of arts and social sciences this year will go through a revised curriculum that will give them more leeway to customise their undergraduate education.

The changes aim to offer more choice to the students beyond their majors and equip them with core writing skills, said Professor Brenda Yeoh, dean of the faculty, at a roundtable discussion yesterday on the value of studying humanities and social sciences.

The changes, part of the faculty’s first major curriculum revision in more than a decade, range from allowing students to benefit from its diverse subject offerings and recognising their work on internships.

Freshmen – 1,600 of them – can now take fewer modules in their major, and instead opt for two more Unrestricted Elective modules which fall outside their specialisation if they wish.

This also frees up more time for them to go for stints under the NUS Overseas Colleges or other programmes without needing to extend their studies by six months to a year.

Double major students will also benefit – overall, they now have three fewer modules to complete, allowing them to graduate on time. In the 2015 academic year, 113 students at the faculty did a second major, compared with 60 in 2012.

Prof Yeoh said these changes will give students more space to explore their interests and take advantage of what the faculty has to offer.

Close to 90 years after its founding, FASS has grown from offering three majors – English literature, geography and history – to having a total of 20 majors today, she said.

Internships will also play a larger role, with students being able to earn up to three modules’ worth of credits for work attachments during the semester or holidays.

Currently, such work stints are compulsory only for students who major in social work. But Associate Professor Loy Hui Chieh, the faculty’s vice-dean of external relations and student life, said more students are going on internships, even without being able to earn any credits. About 800 did internships in the 2015 academic year, up from 600 the year before.

From this new academic year, students will also need to take two new modules to be trained in skills in academic writing and public writing in their first year.

Acting Minister for Education (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, who was the guest-of-honour, said a humanities and social sciences education is important for Singapore’s economy, public policy and society.

“Technology, robotics and artificial intelligence – they are very cool, they are changing the world – but the revolution is as much social as it is technological,” he noted.

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