Talk:COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore/Archive 1

Impact section and to do list
I have recently added an impact section on the article and a to do list within the WikiProject Banner Shell. Let me know what you think. Pinging as the most active contributor on the article. Thanks. Darylgolden(talk) Ping when replying 10:31, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

It's comprehensive. I will also add more details too. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 13:36, 5 March 2020 (UTC)

WikiProject COVID-19
I've created WikiProject COVID-19 as a temporary or permanent WikiProject and invite editors to use this space for discussing ways to improve coverage of the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Please bring your ideas to the project/talk page. Stay safe, -- Another Believer ( Talk ) 17:31, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

Useful source?
I saw this source and thought it might be useful. What do others think? https://academic.oup.com/jtm/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jtm/taaa039/5804843 —Granger (talk · contribs) 19:44, 21 March 2020 (UTC)

Reorganisation of preventative measures section
In my opinion, the preventative measures section should be reorganised to subsections to avoid WP:PROSELINE and condense information. However, it is pretty confusing to work out what should go where. Thoughts? Darylgolden(talk) Ping when replying 00:21, 18 March 2020 (UTC)


 * Darylgolden Well, one way we could do it is to separate the measures into categories, much like the Impacts section on the main COVID-19 pandemic page. This would also match the impacts and the reactions - economic impacts, economic reactions (Resilience Budget), sociological impacts (panic buying, closure of Malaysian border), sociological reactions (PM's speech, cooperation with Malaysia), so on and so forth. Mount2010 (talk) 01:19, 28 March 2020 (UTC)

Straits Times source keeping track of every single case
This is a pretty useful source for citing cases:

-- AquaDTRS (talk) 01:02, 3 April 2020 (UTC)

Writing about cases on the history section
Should the number of new cases be repeated again for all the past days in the history section (i.e. new clusters and details of case increase)? Thing is, we already have a graph and a paragraph on clusters. I'm not sure if that is considered very notable with repetitive details. If yes, I will add cases that happened in the preceding days. Thanks. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 13:52, 3 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I think the clusters can be reported under the 'Case details' section where there are not many, and would be a good replacement for the details of cases since SG has good cluster tracking and the medical cases chart is going to be nuked by TfD. Statistics-wise, I think it would suffice to have notable milestones under the history section instead of having to report the new cases everyday (i.e. single digit cases/recoveries/deaths, when cases hit numbers like 100, 200, 500, 1000, or when new cases reported on that day is a record high). The rest of the statistics can be tracked from the statistics section. -- AquaDTRS (talk) 18:14, 3 April 2020 (UTC)


 * So does that mean the case milestones added should be deleted in this case? Cause it might be repetitive. Besides, details of each COVID-19 death might be trivial info. I would suggest checking the history section first. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 00:56, 4 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Oh, no, I'm for adding case milestones since they are usually fewer and more significant than a daily reporting of cases. The media will usually mention them together with the daily report of case statistics, so its not a repetition. And yes, the intricate details of each case or death is not relevant to wiki since its not a directory and we should avoid including information that could potentially be personally identifying, especially when reporting about people. But the deaths itself are significant (now) because there are so few of them currently. -- AquaDTRS (talk) 18:18, 4 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Noted with thanks. Will follow-up accordingly. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 03:08, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

REVDEL
Just a note: 517 revisions of the article have been REVDEL'd under RD1, for copyright violation of a Mothership article. In case you were wondering why the edits are greyed out. Thanks, Darylgolden(talk) Ping when replying 10:54, 8 April 2020 (UTC)

Organisation
In my opinion, the way the article is organised right now seems a little messy. I would suggest: any thoughts on this? Darylgolden(<b style="color:#F00">talk</b>) Ping when replying 01:32, 17 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Merging the current timeline and preventative measures sections together (I don't see the point of having two separate timelines)
 * Propose splitting off the timeline section
 * Write a new history section that is just a few paragraphs of summary (not including every single detail)
 * Write a new preventative measures section split by specific measure, also including reaction and criticism of specific measures under each subsection
 * Remove most case updates from the timeline section. I know there is some consensus to put case milestones, but with the exponential growth of cases in dormitories every day will be a new record high and it is rather meaningless to include.
 * On points, I will support having the preventive measures separate from the timeline because there's too many details for preventive measures. As for case milestones, we should not include every day as there is already a graph for us to follow up on. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 02:28, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

I don't have a strong opinion. There are probably too many details in preventive steps and cases for people looking back in say 10 years time. We don't currently have the benefit of hindsight so maybe it's worth continuing the blow by blow account as we never know what was an important moment until after the fact. We would then have the details of it to be able to edit it. While it may seem like a strong opinion, I'm ok with whatever is decided DidIWikiThat (talk) 07:08, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

These are good points and I do not have any preference in the styling of the article. I converted both sections to timelines because they were written chronologically and it seemed much more readable that way, but if they can be better organized by combining them then by all means go for it. I agree with the point on the milestones. The milestones I was thinking of were ones that are few and far between, but if a record high keeps getting achieved everyday then I agree it doesn't have significance to include it anymore. I also do think the page is rather big, so splitting off some sections might help in the reorganization. -- AquaDTRS (talk) 20:11, 17 April 2020 (UTC)

I will be rewriting the first few sections of the article from: to:
 * 1) Background
 * 2) Statistics
 * 3) Case details
 * 4) Timeline
 * 5) Preventive measures
 * 1) Epidemiology
 * 2) Background
 * 3) Wave 1: Imported cases from China
 * 4) Wave 2: Early local clusters
 * 5) Wave 3: New wave of imported cases from returning Singaporeans and residents
 * 6) Wave 4: Spread of local clusters and potential community spread
 * 7) Wave 5: Spread among migrant workers population
 * 8) Statistics
 * 9) Preventive measures

The Timeline section can be split of to a separate list "Timeline of COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore" and reconsolidate with the current "Preventive measures" list. Some other country pages have done so.

Drawing from the description of Epidemiology, the Epidemiology section aims to have a structure that show a general understanding of how the virus was introduced and being spread in the country and which segments of the population are impacted. Waves in general and Waves 1 to 3 can be inspired from this [Straits Times https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/singapores-strategy-in-fighting-covid-19] article. I remember seeing one with a chart with splits in between to indicate each wave, but it is buried with the rest of the articles on ST. Waves 4 and 5 are more or less concurrent events. I am splitting into these two headings as the responses to the spread and strategy to contain the spread in the general populace and the migrant workers population are different. If there are alternative suggestions to the headings for the waves, do let me know here. I am not sure about the Statistics section. Should we keep them? If so, do we really need 4 charts?

For Preventive measures section, I am thinking of the list restructuring into paragraphs, summarised, to show the incremental steps that have been taken in response or in anticipation of each wave of infections. Circuit Breaker materials can be condensed in between Wave 3 to 5, with a new article specifically for Circuit Breaker itself. robertsky (talk) 09:53, 12 May 2020 (UTC)


 * I have created an article to write about the Circuit Breaker. Here is the link: 2020 Singaporean Circuit Breaker. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 05:42, 15 May 2020 (UTC)

Mask distribution via vending machines
I thought that Draft:Mask Vending Machines (Singapore 2020) looked promising, then I wondered why it doesn’t seem to be covered here. The draft seems to cite a reliable source. Brianjd (talk) 13:12, 28 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Actually, you can include this in this article or the Timeline of the pandemic articles. I doubt a vending machine article would be very significant. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 19:03, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Strange statistics for Singapore
Today, 29-May-2020, there are nearly 32,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in Singapore but only 23 deaths. This is the lowest ratio which I can find for any country and flies in the face of common sense knowledge about the disease. There is a delay from diagnosis to death (where death occurs) of approx 18 days. Confirmed cases 11-May were just under 24,000.

Calculating the Case Fatality Rate gives us the lowest CFR reported anywhere in the world by quite some margin. CFR = 23 / 24,000 * 100% = 0.096% or approx 0.1%

I came here looking for an explanation, expecting to find one. Is it that cases are over-reported in Singapore, or that deaths from Covid-19 are under-reported?

Paul Beardsell (talk) 19:19, 29 May 2020 (UTC)


 * Neither. The CFR is accurate and a reflection of the situation here in Singapore. The number of cases is a reflection of the relatively large amount of testing being done by authorities (currently at 58,700 tests per million). Most of the infected cases (~95% {Summary Table's Dorm Resident Sub-Total/Total Cases}) are concentrated within the migrant workers population due to the close quarters that they stay in. The cases among the general population is low relatively to the migrant worker population due to safe distancing measures (which were hard to enforce in the dorms), and subsequent lockdown measures. The authorities have ramped up testing and all migrant workers will be tested. (Segments of the general population is being tested as well now, with some of old (likely asymptomatic) cases turning up now.) The migrant workers population tend to be young, with one research surveyed averaging at 30 years and 2 months old. An analysis by the European Commission has found that the CFR for countries analysed is starting to increase after age 50. Synthesising this, we would expect that infected migrant workers are likely to recover than to die. Thus, the low CFR you see. In fact, the deaths in Singapore are largely, if not all from the general population. This reason why you don't see an explanation on the page is probably because we editors here have yet to encounter a proper analysis on the CFR in Singapore, SCMP aside (which conjunctures aside, do not have the data as well). Personally, I think we would probably see the analysis only after the pandemic blows over just like what had happened with SARS in Singapore. Hope this helps! robertsky (talk) 12:40, 30 May 2020 (UTC)

I was aware of not all but most of that detail as I have been following Covid-19 news quite closely to the extent that I'm reading some of the underlying respectable scientific paper pre-prints. You are right, the explanation has to be in the age distribution. If Singapore is keeping C19 away from the elderly then the figures we see are credible. Given that those with the disease are migrants housed separately I see how that is possible. That they are workers also must mean they are almost all of them not chronically sick, and therefore not in the other main risk group. Thanks, Paul Beardsell (talk) 06:28, 1 June 2020 (UTC)
 * Singapore has been keeping the elderly away from the general population as much as possible; resident-facing staff in old folks homes are being housed on site or separately, daily reminders that visitations to the elderly at home should remain at minimal, etc. I can't find research made on the state of physical health of migrant workers in normal times. But yes, you can assume so. There are always the contrary cases. robertsky (talk) 15:06, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Based on statistics, people who are young generally have mild symptoms, which may explain the low death rate of 23 cases with complications, mostly among the elderly. This is the case among workers in dorms. Besides, Singapore is testing everyone in the dorms to determine the extent of the spread. Hope that helps. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 07:16, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Would like to let you know that I have updated the article on the CFR based on the conversation here. Cheers! robertsky (talk) 15:34, 1 June 2020 (UTC)

Should we create a separate article for the circuit breaker?
There is an article for Malaysia's MCO, wondering if it is a good idea to split the circuit breaker measures into another article as this article seems to be getting a little long. Nahnah4 (talk | contribs) 08:04, 17 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I think we can, but keep the more important measures in brief detail. The proposed "circuit breaker" article can detail impacts. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 12:42, 23 April 2020 (UTC)

How about creating a post circuit breaker section? We can keep most of the changes in the timeline section, but I think having a summary like the "waves" for Phase 1 and phase 2 would be useful.DidIWikiThat (talk) 11:15, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

I think that can do. I will tweak it. TheGreatSG&#39;rean (talk) 12:19, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Covid 19 graph cases in Singapore
Hi, regarding the Singapore Covid-19 page from the epidemiology app, I think the number of days for each month for the first and second last graph is incorrect, i.e.between 1/5 and 1/6 the number of dots does not add up to 31 days. Not sure if anyone knows how to rectify this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 42.60.88.59 (talk) 15:47, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

New section needed on vaccines?
Time for a section to cover: Singaporeano (talk) 08:33, 25 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Development of the Arcturus vaccine
 * The "multiple bets" approach
 * Ramping up of vaccine manufacturing & fill-and-finish capabilities
 * Ramping up of vaccine cold chain transportation and storage capabilities
 * Singapore's aim to be a regional hub for vaccine logistics
 * Domestic roll-out of vaccines