By People’s Voice Party chief Lim Tean took to his Facebook on Tuesday (11 February) to share a video that was apparently taken in Guangzhou, China.
The video illustrates detailed safety measures that are being implemented by local authorities to try and contain the deadly coronavirus.
In the one-minute long video, a man can be seen going through multiples safety steps before he was allowed to enter a premise.
The man who appeared at the area wearing a mask got his temperature taken first by an individual wearing a complete set of protective gear.
He then moved to the second station where he was asked to remove his old mask and throw it in the bin placed in front of him. In the next station, another person wearing protective gear gave him hand sanitiser so he could clean his hands.
Following that, another health personnel provided him with a new mask for him to wear immediately before he walked to another station to jot down his name on a paper.
Lastly, he walked to another station where he was given a coloured tag and hand santiser once again.
Upon viewing the video, one can see the meticulous steps being imposed on people in Guangzhou in order to contain the spreading of the deadly virus, which so far has claimed the lives of more than 1,100 people, mostly in China.
On the local front, the Ministry of Health confirmed two more cases of the deadly coronavirus on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infected cases in Singapore to 47.
Out of the 47, 25 cases are due to local human-to-human transmission.
In the caption of the post, Mr Lim Tean wrote, “Serious measures put in place in Guangzhou to contain nCOV. This video is instructive on how certain provinces in China are taking the fight against nCOV very seriously!”
A letter signed by four senior medical practitioners in Singapore, is being circulated to advise people to wear face masks when they leave home so control the spread of the Wuhan novel coronavirus
They pointed out that “as this virus is said to be milder, infected people with no symptoms could transmit the virus to others silently. A certain percentage will developing deadly disease.” and warned that temperature screening works less well to identify those infected.
“As they mingle freely and unmasked, more and more people could be infected daily without even knowing it.”, said the practitioners.
Government asks people not to wear masks unless unwell
Although the video shows that masks are being handed out and changed regularly, but the Singapore government had noted that people should only wear mask if they are feeling under the weather and need to see a doctor.
Those who are well do not need to don a mask to try to avoid catching a virus. They would be better protected by washing their hands with soap and water regularly, the government said.
On 30 January, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong revealed at a news conference that Singaporeans should refrain from hoarding masks and only wear them if they are unwell and need to see a doctor.
He said this after more than five million masks released to retailers “snapped up in hours” each time a batch of these were put up for sale over the past nine days.
Recently, the government also distributed free masks to all 1.37 million households in Singapore.
Trade and Industry Development Minister Chan Chun Sing told the public, “This is not a set of masks for us to take, open immediately, use it to go to the hawker centre. These masks are to be kept in the household for members of our families who might get ill and need to access medical help.”
The government has also been putting up front page advertisements in local media telling people not to wear mask if one is well.
Netizens urge Singapore government to implement such stringent safety measures
Under the comment section of Mr Lim Tean’s post, many netizens pointed out that the Singapore government should follow the safety steps taken by the authorities in Guangzhou. They added that this should be done at schools, hospitals, shopping malls and even polyclinics.
Facebook user Kok Leong Kok said that “Singapore should follow” this. He explained that he once went to an establishment and the thermometer used by the security guard was faulty, resulting to a wrong reading.
Others highlighted that generously distributing masks just like in the video is “wasting mask according to our Singapore leader standard”. Luke Foong Chi Yow added that Singapore government is “reckless” for not “implementing closure of schools and public events, and asking people not to wear masks when healthy”.
