On Jan 28, Lin and Sun uploaded the song on their Weibo accounts, tagging Chinese state media People’s Daily in their captions.
This is not the first such song for Lin. In 2008, he wrote Love And Hope to console those who had lost family members and friends during an earthquake in Sichuan.
This is the second time JJ Lin has done such a song. Picture: Instagram
The magnitude 8.0 earthquake killed 87,000 people and made five million homeless.
Sun wrote in a social media post that Lin had approached her to write a song to pay tribute to the people working against the Wuhan virus. She thanked these people again and noted that it had been hard for them.
Sun also donated money to help people in Wuhan, the city that is ground zero for the virus outbreak. She did this in response to a call by Chinese singer Han Hong. She signed off the donation as “Han Hong’s old friend, Mdm Sun”. /TISG
Aliff Aziz have been making headlines for the wrong reasons. Picture: Instagram
A video of Singaporean actor-singer Aliff Aziz getting into another fight surfaced on social media again recently.
The video shows the celebrity being beaten up in an unknown location in Geylang.
He was seen being chased, punched and kicked by an unknown man and then asked to leave the scene.
Aliff fell down at one point while the man kicked his head.
Bystanders helped Aliff leave the scene before authorities arrived.
He was escorted away from the place while looking disoriented.
Someone shouted at him in Malay asking him to avoid Geylang and go to Jurong instead.
This is not the first time Aliff caused a scene in public.
Bella Astillah plans to reconcile with Aliff Aziz. Picture: Instagram
He was arrested last November where he was shouting loudly and flashing in public.
Aliff is the ex-husband of Malaysian singer and actress Bella Astillah. It was also reported recently that Bella wants to reconcile with the actor-singer.
The reason the couple divorced was that he was allegedly had affairs with other women.
Bella said she will speak to her family about reconciliation with Aliff for the sake of their child.
Her family might most probably stop them from reconciliation due to Aliff’s unruly behaviour.
Aliff recently posted a photo of the two of them in a car. Bella also uploaded a photo of her holding the arm of a man whose face cannot be identified.
She told Berita Harian that the photo was taken at Universal Studios Singapore.
Their son turns three this year.
Despite all the controversy, Aliff still has the support of his fans.
This year, Aliff was caught flashing in public.
He was also charged for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in Orchard Road last year.
The celebrity was accused of theft when he reportedly stole money from an Indonesian actress and lighter and cigarettes at Plaza Singapura.
Ella Chen of SHE pictured with red packets for Chinese New Year. Picture: Facebook
Visiting relatives and friends is a must-do for Chinese New Year and most of us return to our hometown during the festive season. Taiwanese singer-actress Ella Chen spent her Chinese New Year in Melaka visiting her in-laws on January 24.
As one-third of Taiwanese girl group S.H.E., Ella Chen tied the knot with Alvin Lai, a Malaysian entrepreneur in 2012. Since they got hitched, the couple always make it a point toreturn to Lai’s hometown for Chinese New Year.
Malaysian media reported that Ella Chen, 38 reached Malaysia on the eve of Chinese New Year and headed to Melaka to have the reunion dinner.
The celebrity shared photos on Facebook of the festivities and photos of her holding up red packets got netizens excited. She held two stacks of RM50 notes and a stack of RM10 in a photo.
Ella Chen celebrates Chinese New Year with her son in Melaka. Picture: Facebook
Netizens asked her for coffee while some wanted to get a red packet from Ella Chen.
Lai and Chen‘s son also visited tourist spots in Melaka and the family went to the temple on the first day. Her father-in-law goes to the temple every year. Chen’s son loves the lion dance performance.
Ella Chen took photos like a tourist, even though she is a Malaysian daughter-in-law. She took photos of the A Famosa gate and Melaka’s trishaws.
Facebook posts of local food she had during her stay also caught the attention of netizens.
In the photos, Chen is seen making faces while holding a piece of durian.
She said she was about to eat some Musang King and it was so good that it made her eyes roll back.
Chen also enjoyed eating half-boiled eggs, prawn noodles, and curry noodles.
Besides singing and acting, Chen is also a TV host. She has starred in a number of TV series, films, variety shows, and music videos. Ella Chen also plays the guitar and the piano.
According to China’s foreign ministry on Friday (Jan 31), the government is preparing to send charter planes overseas to bring home its citizens who are from Hubei, where the novel coronavirus originated late last year.
Ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a one-sentence statement, “Considering the difficulties facing Chinese citizens overseas, especially those from Wuhan, the Chinese government decided to send chartered flights as early as possible to take them back to Wuhan.”
According to China’s Civil Aviation Administration, there will be two chartered flights on Friday to bring home Wuhan residents from Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia and Bangkok, Thailand, operated by Xiamen Air.
Friday’s announcement from the ministry of foreign affairs came even as several carriers have also announced that they are suspending or decreasing flights to China because of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
As of Friday, there are around 9,800 confirmed cases of the virus, and the death toll now stands at 213. The virus is now present in 18 countries aside from China, including India and the Philippines, which reported its first cases on January 30.
Growing concern over the spread of the virus has caused countries such as Germany, Britain and the United States to tell citizens to postpone trips to China. The US State Department issued an advisory saying, “Do not travel to China, due to novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China. Travelers should be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice. Commercial carriers have reduced or suspended routes to and from China.”
China itself has asked its citizens to cancel group tours abroad and refrain from any overseas trips for the time being.
Zhu Tao of China’s Civil Aviation Administration said at a January 30 media conference that officials are working together to bring Chinese travellers back home.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency on Thursday (Jan 30) due to the novel coronavirus.
This marked a turn from initial announcements from the health agency of the United Nations, which has been on the ground in Wuhan and has met a number of times since the outbreak began late last year.
In Geneva on Thursday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the WHO, said “Over the past few weeks we have witnessed the emergence of a previously unknown pathogen that has escalated into an unprecedented outbreak. Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems. “We must all act together now to limit further spread… We can only stop it together.”
A global health emergency is defined by the WHO as a “public health emergency of international concern,” and as an “extraordinary event” that is “serious, unusual or unexpected.”
Mr Tedros, however, urged people to stay calm, and added that officials in China were doing their utmost to prevent further spread of the disease. He said “This is the time for facts, not fear. This is the time for science, not rumors. This is the time for solidarity, not stigma.” -/TISG
Read related: WHO declares novel coronavirus outbreak a global public health emergency
Apple on Thursday said it has finished rolling out an overhauled map app in the US in another attempt to challenge Google’s popular smartphone navigation software.
Apple spent years rebuilding the application, its cars traveling millions of miles to map roads, after a version launched in 2012 was so problematic it prompted a rare public apology from chief executive Tim Cook.
Mapping programs on mobile devices is seen as a way to stay in tune with smartphone lifestyles and pursue opportunities to make money connecting people with nearby offerings such as restaurants, theaters, clothing shops and other businesses.
Apple said the redesigned “Maps” program is fast, accurate, and comprehensive, even weaving in transit options in some locations.
Maps is to begin rolling out in Europe in coming months.
“We set out to create the best and most private maps app on the planet that is reflective of how people explore the world today,” Apple senior vice president of internet software and services Eddy Cue said in a release.
“It is an effort we are deeply invested in and required that we rebuild the map from the ground up to reimagine how Maps enhances people’s lives — from navigating to work or school or planning an important vacation — all with privacy at its core.”
Apple Maps had some features similar to those in Google Maps, such as pictures of locations taken at street level and artificial intelligence to check the status of flight reservations noted in email boxes or on calendars.
As with other products, Apple stressed work done to protect user privacy, such as obscuring search terms, routing, and other data, according to the company.
The US presidential race begins in earnest Monday when Iowans take the first votes in the process that ultimately determines which Democrat will face incumbent Donald Trump in November.
Here are five questions on key aspects of a crowded race that remains wide open ahead of the February 3 Iowa caucuses.
– Will septuagenarians rise? –
As campaigning ramped up last year, Democrats thirsted for new voices and faces that would ensure the nation’s growing diversity is better reflected in the presidential race.
More than two dozen candidates with various backgrounds, ethnicities, ages and orientations piled in to the battle to see who challenges 73-year-old real estate magnate Trump.
But with Iowa looming, four white candidates in their seventies occupy the top spots in national polls.
Former vice president Joe Biden, 77, is the national frontrunner, followed by far-left independent Senator Bernie Sanders, 78, and progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren, 70.
Just this week, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who turns 78 in February, climbed into fourth place in the Realclearpolitics polling average.
The billionaire businessman surpassed former Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg, who at 38 is the youngest hopeful in the race.
Bloomberg entered the campaign late and is not contesting Iowa, where Buttigieg is in the top tier challenging rivals twice his age.
– Radical party, or realist? –
Who is best positioned to defeat Trump?
Consumed by this central question, Democratic voters must choose among favorites in a field sharply divided between radical progressives and more moderate realists.
It is currently the party’s main quandary, underscored by The New York Times as it explained why, for the first time in its 169-year history, its editorial board broke with tradition to endorse not just a single candidate, but two: Warren, representing the more “radical” faction, and Amy Klobuchar, a 59-year-old senator in the “realistic” camp.
Biden and Buttigieg, like Klobuchar, take a more centrist approach while Sanders, a Democratic socialist seeking to win the nomination of a party he has never joined, calls for nothing less than political “revolution.”
– Four states, four winners? –
With working class voters, Midwest farmers, African-Americans or Hispanics seeing different strengths among each of the candidates, a different candidate could potentially win each of the first four early-voting states.
Iowa and New Hampshire (which votes second, on February 11) are largely rural and homogenous. Nevada (February 22) has a large Latino population, while in South Carolina (February 29), black voters represent a majority of the Democratic electorate.
– Brokered convention? –
Given such a tight race, it is possible that no candidate arrives at the Democratic National Convention on July 13 with enough delegates in hand to claim victory.
Democrats and Republicans both use a complicated process involving pledged delegates proportioned according to primary and caucus results across the nation.
To carry the Democratic torch in the election, one must win a majority of the 3,979 delegates.
If no candidate has a majority, pledged delegates would become free to vote for someone else on the convention’s second ballot if their candidate drops out.
Complicating matters, if the convention has no outright winner after the first ballot, more than 700 “superdelegates” — party officials and insiders who are automatically made delegates — would then be eligible to vote in selecting the nominee.
– Impeachment impact? –
The Senate’s Trump impeachment trial has had an unprecedented impact on the campaign, particularly in Iowa.
Four senators running for president — Sanders, Warren, Klobuchar and low-polling Michael Bennet — spent most of the last two weeks pinned to Washington, denied the personal contact with Iowa voters so vital before the caucuses.
Trump’s impeachment by the House of Representatives on December 18 has not changed the political fault lines in an extremely divided country.
About nine in 10 Republicans support the president, and he is expected to be acquitted by the Senate’s Republican majority.
Countries are scrambling to airlift their citizens from the Chinese city of Wuhan as it struggles to get to grips with the spread of a SARS-like virus which has claimed more than 200 lives nationwide.
The United States, France and Japan are among nations that have already sent aircraft to remove their nationals.
China has sealed off the city, effectively quarantining more than 50 million people in Hubei province, including thousands of foreigners.
AFP answers five questions on the evacuation efforts.
What are the risks? Authorities will have to “really, really clean the airports and prevent transmission at every step of the logistics — it’s a huge risk”, said Wang Linfa, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases programme at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) says the risk of contracting a disease on board a plane is in general similar to other confined, crowded spaces such as buses or trains.
“That said, the risk on airplanes is probably lower than in many confined spaces because modern planes have cabin air filtration systems equipped with HEPA filters,” it adds.
How are airlines preventing infection?
Singaporean airline Scoot, which flew home 92 people to the Southeast Asian city-state on Thursday, provided surgical masks to all passengers and required its crew to wear the more effective N95 masks and surgical gloves.
To limit physical interaction, food packs were left on seats before take-off and no meals or drinks were distributed in-flight.
Scoot said temperature screening was conducted at check-in and again before boarding, and those with a fever were prevented from flying.
Air India enforced similar measures in New Delhi’s evacuation effort on Friday.
“There are risks but on the other hand, the risks of leaving them at the epicentre of the global outbreak are significantly higher with the strain on resources there,” said Paul Tambyah, an infectious diseases expert at the National University of Singapore.
International aviation agencies have protocols for evacuations that include having empty seats between passengers and ensuring good air quality and flow, he added.
What about the foreigners left behind?
Thousands of non-Chinese citizens remain trapped in Wuhan watching helplessly as others are flown home on government-chartered flights.
Many left in the city have described an atmosphere of fear and confusion as well as uncertainty about food supply. Wuhan is a virtual ghost town, with restaurants and shops shuttered.
“It’s unfortunate but citizens of countries that don’t have that kind of diplomatic wherewithal are going to have to deal with the situation that they’re presented with,” said China analyst Drew Thompson, a former US Department of Defense official.
“They’re going to have to hunker down … and stay in contact with their embassies, and make do, just like their Chinese friends and counterparts.”
What happens after they return home?
Quarantine arrangements for evacuees vary from country to country.
Japan’s policy of “self-quarantine” has sparked fierce criticism.
Two of Wednesday’s returnees initially refused to be tested for the virus although officials said the pair were later willing to be checked.
“It’s a difficult scenario,” said Wang. “You just do your best to… educate the citizens, to say, ‘we’ll help you to help us’.”
“In most circumstances self-quarantine is more than enough if the citizen is educated.”
In South Korea 18 passengers on an evacuation flight were immediately sent to hospital on arriving back in their country Friday after displaying symptoms of the coronavirus.
How long is the quarantine period?
French and British returnees will undergo a 14-day quarantine, while Americans will be voluntarily isolated for three days at a US airbase.
The virus’s incubation period, during which patients are infected but show no symptoms, is 2-17 days, meaning a two-week quarantine should catch about 99 percent of cases, said Wang.
“It’s all about risk assessment,” he said. “There’s no such thing as a single quarantine (type) for all citizens in all countries coming from any part of the world.”
A number of airlines say they are halting or reducing flights to China as the country struggles to contain the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.
China has advised its citizens to postpone trips abroad and cancelled overseas group tours, while several countries have urged their citizens to avoid travel to China.
The World Health Organization declared an emergency over the virus but said it “does not recommend and actually opposes any restrictions” on travel and trade to China partly because it could disrupt needed aid.
The epidemic has killed 170 people, infected more than 7,000 worldwide including at least 80 outside China, Macau and Hong Kong, and spread to some 15 countries.
The Italian government said it was suspending all flights between Italy and China, adding it was the first EU government to do so.
The following is a list of airlines that have announced changes:
– AirAsia –AirAsia said a ban on flights from Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia, Bangkok and Phuket in Thailand to Wuhan, China has been extended until the end of February.
– Air Austral –The airline is suspending flights between La Reunion and Guangzhou from February 8 to March 1.
– Air France –Air France suspended its three weekly flights to Wuhan on January 24. It said Thursday it had halted regular flights to Beijing and Shanghai until February 9, although it added it would fly special flights with volunteer crews to evacuate employees and clients.
– Air India –Air India announced Wednesday that it was suspending service on its Mumbai-New Delhi-Shanghai route effective January 31, and through February 14.
The flag carrier also said it would reduce the number of flights from Delhi to Hong Kong for the next two weeks.
– Air KBZ –The Myanmar-based airline said it will halt flights to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou from February 1.
– Air Madagascar –The airline said Thursday it was suspending its once-weekly flight between Antananarivo and Guangzhou during February, its only direct connection with China.
– American Airlines –American Airlines said it will suspend flights from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai from February 9 through March 27.
Flights from Dallas/Fort Worth to Beijing and Shanghai have been maintained, the US carrier said.
– British Airways –British Airways said it had suspended all flights to and from mainland China. The airline flies daily from London’s Heathrow airport to Shanghai and Beijing.
The airline said it had taken the move following UK government advice against all but essential travel to China.
– Cathay Pacific –The Hong Kong-based carrier said it would progressively reduce capacity by 50 percent or more on its routes to mainland China from Thursday through to the end of March.
The reduction concerns both Cathay Pacific and its Cathay Dragon subsidiary.
– Delta –Delta Air Lines said it was temporarily halving the number of weekly flights connecting the US and China due to “significantly reduced customer demand” — from 42 to about 21 per week.
The new schedule will be in effect from February 6 through April 30.
– EgyptAir –EgyptAir said Thursday it was suspending flights to Hangzhou from February and those to other main cities such as Beijing and Guangzhou by February 4.
– EL AL –The Israeli airline said Thursday it was suspending its flights to Beijing until March 25. Flights to other Chinese destinations are continuing.
– Finnair – Finnair, which offers many connections between Europe and Asia, said it would suspend some flights beginning February 5 through most of March after group travel from China was halted.
For the moment, it will continue daily flights to Beijing and Shanghai, two daily flights to Hong Kong, and two flights a week to Guangzhou.
– IndiGo –India’s largest airline IndiGo announced it would suspend flights between Delhi and Chengdu (China) from February 1 until February 20. IndiGo also said they would suspend Bangalore-Hong Kong flights from February 1.
They added that for the time being they would continue to operate the Kolkata–Guangzhou flight, and closely monitor the situation.
– Iberia –Iberia announced the suspension of its flight to Shanghai, the only flight they have to China, from Friday.
– Kazakhstan –Kazakhstan says it will halt all transport links with China, beginning with road transport on February 1 and flights from February 3.
– KLM –KLM says it is suspending all flights to China by the end of the weekend.
“Flights departing from Amsterdam on Sunday, February 2, are planned to give as many clients as possible the chance to travel from Beijing and Shanghai back to Amsterdam,” KLM was quoted as saying by the NOS public broadcaster.
– Lion Air –Indonesia’s Lion Air Group, Southeast Asia’s biggest carrier by fleet size, said Wednesday it would halt all flights to and from China.
The suspension, which affects routes to 15 different Chinese cities, takes effect from February 1 until further notice.
Indonesia attracts more than one million Chinese tourists annually and hosts tens of thousands of guest workers.
– Lufthansa –German flag carrier Lufthansa is cancelling flights to mainland China until February 9.
The Lufthansa group, one of Europe’s largest airline companies, said the decision also applied to flights run by its subsidiaries Swiss and Austrian Airlines.
The Lufthansa group normally operates 73 connections to and from mainland China a week, mainly to Beijing and Shanghai.
– Myanmar Airways International –MAI has announced a suspension effective from Friday for charter flights to 10 Chinese cities and was allowing passengers booked on its regular service to Guangzhou to change their travel plans without charge.
– Myanmar National Airlines –MNA has said it will halt flights to Hong Kong and Chengdu from Saturday.
– Royal Air Maroc –The Moroccan national airline Royal Air Maroc announced it would suspend from Friday its flights from Casablanca to Beijing as demand plummeted. The link is to resume on February 29.
– Scandinavian Airlines –SAS has announced it is halting direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai from Friday until February 9. Service to Hong Kong is being continued although passengers are being offered opportunities to cancel or rebook.
– Singapore Airlines –Singapore Airlines announced that it and subsidiary SilkAir will cancel some flights on selected routes to several major Chinese cities “due to the growing scale of the novel coronavirus outbreak.”
– SkyUp Airlines –The low-cost Ukrainian airline said it will halt charter services to China’s resort island of Hainan until March 28.
– Turkish Airlines –Turkish Airlines said it has suspended flights to four Chinese destinations – Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xian – until February 9.
– Ukraine International Airlines –UIA said it would halt services to Hainan until February 24.
– United Airlines –US carrier United Airlines has said it will trim its services to China from the United States in light of reduced demand in the wake of a US travel warning urging Americans to reconsider non-essential travel.
Having earlier announced reductions in the number of flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai between February 1 through February 8, on Thursday it announced from February 9 though March 28 it will reduce the number of daily flights from 12 to four.
– Urals Airlines – Russia’s Urals Airlines, which had already suspended flights to several destinations in China, said Wednesday it was cutting some services to Europe popular with Chinese tourists, including Paris and Rome, because of the outbreak.
China sent two planes to Malaysia and Thailand on Friday to bring “stranded” Hubei province residents back to the virus-stricken city of Wuhan, authorities said.
The Xiamen Airlines flights will pick up the Chinese nationals from Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia and the Thai capital Bangkok, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
There are 117 nationals from Hubei province in Bangkok and 100 in Kota Kinabalu who are “willing to take the chartered flights back to Wuhan as soon as possible”, the CAAC said in a statement.
This is in spite of the fact that Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, is the epicentre of a new virus outbreak that is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals.
The city of 11 million has since experienced an unprecedented lockdown, preventing residents from leaving in a bid to stop the deadly virus from spreading further.
The charter flights are expected to arrive in Wuhan at 1200 and 1300 GMT on the same day.
“The charter flights adopt the principle of voluntary ticket purchase,” the CAAC added.
China’s foreign affairs ministry said earlier on Friday that the country would bring Wuhan residents back from overseas “as soon as possible” due to the “the practical difficulties that Chinese citizens from Hubei, especially Wuhan, have faced overseas”.
This comes after a number of airlines announced they were halting or reducing flights to China as the country struggles to contain the spread of a deadly new virus.
On Monday, Malaysia banned visitors from Wuhan and its surrounding Hubei province as well.
The topic was trending online on Friday, with over 67 million views and 21,000 discussion posts on China’s Twitter-like platform Weibo.
“These people probably don’t want to go back (to Wuhan),” said one.
Another questioned if residents should be brought back if they were not infected.
When asked about the suspension of international flights at a press conference on Thursday, Zhu Tao of the CAAC said authorities were coordinating arrangements to bring travellers home.
Hospitals have been overwhelmed in Wuhan. AFP reporters saw long queues, with some patients saying they lined up for two days to see a doctor.
As fears of the outbreak have spread overseas, prominent figures in Chinese communities in Italy have warned of episodes of “latent racism” against their compatriots by Italians fearful of catching the virus.
China has advised its citizens to postpone trips abroad and cancelled overseas group tours, while several countries including the United States, Germany, Britain and Japan have urged their citizens to avoid travel to China.
Singapore — On Friday, two Correction Directions were issued under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma).
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong issued a Correction Direction against AB-TC City News over a website article that claimed five Singaporeans who had not gone to China had contracted the Wuhan virus, and Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing issued a Correction Direction against Mr Alex Tan of the States Times Review, who had put up a Facebook post that falsely said the country had run out of face masks.
In connection with Mr Gan’s Correction Direction, opposition politician Lim Tean and the Say No To PAP Facebook group were also required to post Correction Notices for sharing the AB-TC City News article.
According to a statement from the Pofma Office: “A Correction Direction is a Direction issued to a person who has communicated a falsehood (i.e. the recipient) that affects the public interest. It requires the recipient to publish a Correction Notice, providing access to the correct facts. The Direction does not require the recipient to take down their post or make edits to their content, and does not impose criminal sanctions.”
At present, there are 13 cases of confirmed Wuhan virus in Singapore, all of whom are Chinese nationals from Wuhan. No Singaporeans have tested positive for the virus as of Friday (Jan 31).
AB-TC City News has complied with the Correction Direction and published a Correction Notice. It has also taken down the original post that contained the fake news.
Mr Lim Tean and the Say No To PAP Facebook group have also removed the post, but the Pofma Office wrote that “they are still required to carry a Correction Notice on their respective Facebook pages. This will ensure that persons who had viewed their posts are informed of the facts.”
Mr Chan instructed the Pofma Office to issue a Correction Direction to Mr Alex Tan, who posted on the States Times Review’s Facebook page on Jan 30 that Singapore’s supply of face masks was running out.
The statement from the POFMA Office said: “The Minister for Trade and Industry has instructed the Pofma Office to issue a Correction Direction to Mr Alex Tan, and a Targeted Correction Direction to Facebook. This is with regard to Mr Tan’s “States Times Review” Facebook post on 30 January 2020, 10:10 am, which falsely claimed that Singapore had run out of face masks”.
Mr Chan said on Jan 30 that Singapore has enough masks as long as residents manage their usage “appropriately”.
He said: “I understand many Singaporeans are concerned whether we have sufficient masks in our stockpile. Whether we have sufficient masks or not will depend on three factors: How much we have in our physical stockpile, our usage rate, and our resupply quantum and frequency. We will have enough if we manage these three factors appropriately.”
Mr Tan, who lives in Australia, has refused to “comply with the Pofma order on the basis that there is no need for a citizen to comply with censorship orders from a foreign government like North Korea and Singapore”, according to a Facebook post on Jan 31. -/TISG
