How can the elderly prevent the epidemic if they do not use the APP? Singapore has come up with this solution

Oral Description: Yin Yihang Finishing: Liu Fangxu's location: Singapore

Free government distribution of kits to "reduce burdens" on hospitals and clinics

I studied for a Master of Artificial Intelligence in Computer Science and Technology, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. On August 3 this year, I flew to Singapore. Before arriving, I need to book a nucleic acid test at the airport for SGD 160, after which I will take a taxi to the hotel for quarantine and will not allow other public transport. After the nucleic acid test result is negative, I can move freely. According to the requirements of the Singapore government, tourists from low-risk areas in China need to quarantine for 1 day, and medium- and high-risk areas need to quarantine for 7 days.

Before leaving the airport, we were asked to install a local "trace together" app on our phone, which functions like a health code in our country. The difference is that "Heli Tracking" will activate the Bluetooth function, which not only records the information of the user entering and leaving the place, but also records the location of the nearby mobile phone signal and the epidemic prevention device, and the data is uniformly retained for 3 weeks. In this way, in the event of close contact with a confirmed person with COVID-19, the government can quickly trace individuals. For people who are inconvenient to use mobile phones, such as the elderly, they can go to the government-designated places to receive free epidemic prevention device tokens. The token also has a Bluetooth function, similar to an IC card, and can record entry and exit information by touching the epidemic prevention device installed in various public places.

From August to October this year, I experienced several changes in the local epidemic prevention and control policy, and the specific measures were generally obtained on the public account, the government's official website and the news. At the beginning of August, Singapore's epidemic prevention policy was relatively strict, and dine-in food was not open, only taken out; at the same time, masks were worn both indoors and outdoors, and violators would be fined SGD 300. But police and epidemic prevention personnel are also unable to monitor the place at all times, and in general, shopkeepers or security personnel will kindly remind people to wear masks. The dine-in and mask policy is very effective. Because they can only eat at home, people have a very limited range of activities. Starting from 10 August, unvaccinated residents are required to comply with the measure of eating together by up to 2 people in public places; vaccinated residents are required to present a certificate that up to 5 people can dine together. However, after the liberalization of dine-in, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Singapore has increased sharply. Since 27 September, the epidemic prevention policy has been tightened, and the number of people limits for dine-in and social activities has been adjusted from 5 to 2 people.

Beginning in September, the government began distributing COVID-19 nucleic acid self-test kits to households. Each person can receive a free kit in the community or purchase it themselves at pharmacies and online. The kit is simple to operate and is mainly used for self-screening, effectively reducing the pressure on hospitals and clinics. Due to the limited resources of the hospital, and the vast majority of new confirmed covid-19 patients are mild patients, most patients will self-isolate and recover at home, and severe and elderly patients will be admitted to the hospital.

Singapore has a small population and a very high vaccination rate of 85%. Among them, the vaccination rate of the student population is as high as 95%, and 560,000 people have been vaccinated with booster injections.

Before coming to Singapore, I had received two doses of the vaccine in China, had also had a serum antibody test, and registered my vaccination records in Heli Tracking. But in early October, given the high number of new confirmed cases in Singapore, I was given another shot of the vaccine in Singapore for my own safety. It is generally reported that the immune response after this vaccination is large, fortunately, after I have been vaccinated, there are no other adverse reactions except for the pain in the arm and the fatigue that lasted for one day.

The number of people in physical activity is limited, and it is difficult to play basketball

The COVID-19 pandemic is raging around the world, and international students are facing greater challenges. Singapore is one of the most popular study abroad destinations in 2021. In order to provide more learning opportunities, Singapore's universities have expanded their enrollment, resulting in insufficient allocation of dormitories, the shortage of surrounding housing, and the price of rental housing has also risen sharply.

In early August, shortly after I arrived in Singapore, the local epidemic situation was relatively well controlled, and the number of new confirmed cases was about 100 per day, and it showed a downward trend. However, with the start of a new round of unblocking in mid-to-late August, Singapore opened its entry to many countries and also opened up dine-in restrictions, and the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases soon increased significantly. In mid-to-late September, the number of confirmed cases surged to more than 1,000 per day. By the beginning of October, more than 3,000 new confirmed cases were confirmed daily.

Due to the changes in the epidemic situation, offline classes were quickly stopped. In the 3 months I have been studying in Singapore, I have only taken one offline class in August, and the rest of the courses have been conducted online. This made me almost lose the opportunity to meet new people and interact face-to-face with my classmates. Because of the lack of dormitories, I did not live on campus, and the utilization of school resources was not high. Fortunately, the university campus is not walled, it is always open to the public, and playing basketball with friends once a week has become one of my few important social activities. However, according to the local epidemic prevention requirements, the number of people gathering for sports activities cannot exceed 5 people, and the rare basketball time does not seem to be fully enjoyable.

According to the unified requirements of the Singapore government, the capacity of tourist attractions, museums and libraries is 50%, reservations are required, and seats in movie theaters, restaurants and other places are compulsory compartments, and vaccination certificates need to be presented before entering. In my spare time, I visited well-known attractions such as Orchard Road, S.E.A. Aquarium, ArtScience Museum, East Coast Park, etc., and found that there were very few tourists, but the mall was quite lively and crowded.

Online teaching doesn't make the course any easier, and I have a lot of assignments on weekdays, and I need to go to class and complete assignments almost every day, with less free time. Friends in Singapore are more cautious about the epidemic and are not willing to go out. Without fellow travelers, my time out is greatly reduced.

Column Editor-in-Chief: Gong Danyun Text Editor: Liu Sen

Source: Author: Liu Fangxu