SINGAPORE – There are 218 new coronavirus cases confirmed as of Monday noon (June 22), taking Singapore’s total to 42,313.
They include a community case who is a work pass holder, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday.
Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the vast majority of the other cases on Monday, said the MOH.
More details will be announced on Monday night.
On Sunday, MOH announced that a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student was among 262 new cases of Covid-19 reported
The 22-year-old, who has not gone to the university since early April, was tested as part of proactive screening at the institutes of higher learning for those diagnosed with acute respiratory infection when they first see a doctor, said MOH.
He was confirmed to have Covid-19 on Saturday after the onset of symptoms last Thursday.
The student was among 10 new community cases announced on Sunday.
The other nine were a 58-year-old Singaporean man, a 33-year-old male permanent resident, three work pass holders and four work permit holders.
The Republic’s plans to expand its rail network by more than 50 per cent will be delayed as a result of the impact of Covid-19.
But it still aims to hit this target by the early 2030s, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said on Monday (June 22).
“There will be some delays because of Covid-induced impact on the availability of construction workers,” he said, without elaborating on estimated lengths of the delays.
“But the intent to significantly expand our MRT network remains unchanged.”
Singapore’s current rail network spans about 230km.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) had said that it wanted to expand the rail network to about 360km by 2030, which would connect eight in 10 households to a train station within 10 minutes.
Rail lines that were due to be completed in the next decade include the remaining phases of the Thomson-East Coast Line, Jurong Region Line and the first part of the Cross Island Line.
Stage two of Thomson-East Coast Line was set to be completed later this year. It would link up Woodlands to Caldecott via Mayflower.
She has been staying with her parents for more than two months after renovation work at her flat was suspended.
This was after the circuit breaker was imposed on April 7.
Thousands of home renovations have also stalled until recently, affecting home owners such as Ms Alisya Fatin, 24, a customer support officer.
But even as the country entered phase two, she is still stuck in limbo with no completion date in sight.
The Building and Construction Authority had said on June 13 that more than 19,000 suspended home renovation projects can now resume work. But it would depend on the availability of manpower and supplies.
Ms Alisya married Mr Muhd Fairuz, 29, on June 13, and they were supposed to move into their four-room resale flat in Pasir Ris in mid-June.
Renovation had started in mid-March, but now the flat is mostly empty, with only hacking work done and construction tools lying around.
Around two million people here have downloaded the national contact tracing app TraceTogether, after rules were introduced for foreign workers to do so as part of heightened measures to combat the spread of Covid-19 in dormitories and work sites.
The foreign workers have to meet tomorrow’s app download deadline, as the country enters phase two of the reopening of the economy.
Latest figures show Singapore residents have also been downloading and updating their personal details in the app.
The number of users who have entered their identification numbers – a new requirement introduced earlier this month – has gone up to 790,000, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Group told The Straits Times.
Privacy advocates have argued against the collection of identity numbers such as NRIC or foreign identification numbers (FINs), saying that a centralised database provides an attractive target for hackers.
A Ministry of Health (MOH) spokesman said the capturing of identity numbers in the updated TraceTogether app allows for a higher degree of identity assurance, which is necessary for the issuing of official quarantine orders, for instance.
SINGAPORE: The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) on Monday (Jun 22) issued an alert about three weight loss products that were found to have potent medicinal ingredients.
Two of the products, Clinic K and RO Slim Booster, contained the banned substance sibutramine, while Rozell Detox contained the potent laxative sennoside.
All three products are sold on local e-commerce platforms such as Shopee, Carousell and Qoo10, as well as on social media platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
SIDE EFFECTS LIKE RAPID HEARTBEAT, DIZZINESS
Clinic K, marketed to be of “safe medical grade” and the “No 1 clinical weight-loss formula in Korea”, claimed to contain natural ingredients such as amino acids, green tea extract and other botanical extracts.
“However, HSA’s tests revealed that the product contained high levels of sibutramine. Sibutramine was previously a prescription-only-medicine for weight loss but has been banned in Singapore since 2010 because of an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes,” the authority said.
“The level of sibutramine detected in the product was double the maximum daily dose previously allowed.”
Clinic K was found to contain twice the maximum daily dose previously allowed for sibutramine. (Photo: Health Sciences Authority)
Consumers who took Clinic K reported experiencing extreme thirst, rapid heartbeat, dizziness and loss of appetite.
In one case, a woman in her 40s experienced a rapid heartbeat, dizziness and breathlessness after taking the product for two days.
The symptoms persisted for a few weeks even after she reduced the recommended dose by half and stopped taking the product after five days, HSA said.
Some of the marketing materials for Clinic K included a “warning” of potential effects such as nausea, dizziness, restlessness and rapid heartbeat due to the product’s “caffeine content”, HSA said.
“This misleads consumers into thinking that the effects are normal and expected. These effects are in fact some of the adverse effects associated with sibutramine,” the authority added.
Sibutramine was also found in RO Slim Booster, which was marketed as a diet control product. It was sold as an accompanying product to Rozell Detox, which was marketed to contain natural ingredients such as fruit powder and fruit extracts.
Consumers reported experiencing profuse sweating and rapid heart rate after taking the Rozell Detox, which was found to contain the potent laxative sennoside.
Rozell Detox was marketed to contain natural ingredients such as fruit powder and fruit extracts. (Photo: Health Sciences Authority)
CONSUMERS SHOULD STOP TAKING PRODUCTS, SEE DOCTOR: HSA
HSA has advised consumers to stop taking the products immediately and to consult a doctor if they feel unwell or have concerns about their health.
The authority said it is working with the local administrators of the online platforms to take down the listings. It has also alerted Interpol and its counterparts in Korea about Clinic K and authorities in Malaysia over Rozell Detox and RO Slim Booster.
It also urged sellers and suppliers to stop selling the products immediately.
“It is illegal to sell and supply such products, which contained banned substances or potent medicinal ingredients,” HSA said. “Sellers and suppliers are liable to prosecution and if convicted, may be imprisoned for up to two years and/or fined up to S$10,000.”
SINGAPORE: Three men have been arrested after a fight broke out in Bukit Batok on Friday (Jun 19) night.
Police say they received a call for assistance at Blk 157, Bukit Batok St 11 at about 10.40pm on Friday.
The three Singaporean men, aged between 48 and 50, were arrested for affray, the police told CNA. They will also be investigated for possible breaches of safe distancing measures.
In one scene in a video of the incident, remnants of a smashed beer bottle can be seen on the floor. A man in a dark blue shirt can be seen shouting and throwing a punch at one of two men, who appear to be walking away from him.
In a separate scene, the man in the dark blue shirt is seen in an argument with a group of men seated at a table. The man, who is barefoot, gets splashed with some liquid. A fight then ensues between him and two of the men at the table.
The man in the dark blue shirt falls to the ground and a fourth person joins the fight, kicking and punching him before a woman shouts for them to stop.
Screengrabs of a video circulating on social media of police officers at the scene of a fight at at Blk 157 Bukit Batok St 11 on Jun 19, 2020.
The video ends with a shot of at least 10 policemen at the scene.
The offence of affray under the Penal Code carries a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up to S$5,000, or both.
Police investigations are ongoing.
Singapore on Friday entered Phase 2 of its post-“circuit breaker” reopening, with shops and food and beverage outlets welcoming customers, while playgrounds and beaches also reopened.
The authorities had earlier on Friday also arrested a drunk 26-year-old Singaporean man for causing annoyance to the public at the same place.
On Saturday, a restaurant at Lorong Mambong in Holland Village was ordered to close after it failed to ensure that COVID-19 safe management practices were adhered to.
Jobs are available for Singaporeans in the infocommunications space over the next three years, with the Republic facing a huge shortage of professionals, said Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation Initiative Vivian Balakrishnan.
Singaporeans can secure these well-paying jobs if they are prepared to train and reskill, said Dr Balakrishnan, who is also Foreign Minister, in an interview with The Straits Times.
He said digitalisation and disruption had already taken root when the current crisis struck. Covid-19 accelerated these trends.
While Singapore’s immediate priority is to save jobs, that is not enough because “jobs are going to change”, he added.
That is why the bulk of the Covid-19 support measures totalling almost $100 billion in the four Budget announcements had focused on getting companies to re-engineer their processes and workers to learn new skills “so that they are ready for the new opportunities when the crisis recedes”.
A Singaporean commodity broker wanted by the FBI was charged in the city state on Friday for falsifying company documents to conceal transactions with North Korea from banks.
Tan Wee Beng, managing director of trading company Wee Tiong, was charged over sugar sales to customers in North Korea between 2014 and 2016, according to a police statement. A shipping manager at the firm was also charged.
Many countries and international bodies have imposed sanctions on North Korea, mainly targeted at its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.
Sanctions introduced by the United Nations in 2006 first restricted weapons-related materials, but were expanded to luxury goods, banking, travel and trade.
Tan and Wee Tiong could not be immediately reached for comment.
Tan is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with millions of dollars in commodities contracts for North Korea going back to 2011, in which money was allegedly laundered through the US and Singapore financial systems, according to an FBI notice.
Lilian Tan, a full-time homemaker and part-time wellness coach, had ordered herself a full body health screening as a birthday gift last October, and was hoping to celebrate but an abnormal test result was what came back.
Further checks with a gynaecologist confirmed that she had cervical cancer.
Her first thought? “Eh si buey (will I die from it)? What is the mortality rate like?” shared the 36-year-old. Coming from a “very blunt Hokkien family”, her parents also asked her, “eh si buey?”
“They are very direct, but I know they were just showing concern,” recounted Tan, adding that her family was her strongest support.
“Some of them just couldn’t believe how positive I was!”
But it was that sort of positivity which brought her through the darker times till date.
“It was really a blessing in disguise,” she said.
First stroke of luck — an early detection
2018 and 2019 were the high points of Tan’s health and fitness journey after the birth of her twins in 2016.
SINGAPORE – The Workers’ Party stands with Singapore, said its chief and leader of the opposition Pritam Singh on Sunday (June 21).
Responding to Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam’s questioning of the party’s loyalties earlier that day, Mr Singh said: “When it comes to Singapore’s sovereignty, there can be no doubt where the WP has stood and will continue to stand.”
The exchange began when Jurong GRC MP Tan Wu Meng criticised Mr Singh in an article published last Friday on the People’s Action Party website, for speaking in support of poet and playwright Alfian Sa’at in Parliament during the Fortitude Budget debate earlier this month.
