Students brought thermometers to school and hospital staff donned full protective gear yesterday as Singapore simulated a flu pandemic to test the city-state's readiness.
More than 1,000 health workers and public servants participated in day one of the two-day "Exercise Sparrowhawk," in addition to 500 volunteer patients.
The large-scale exercise involved 19 locations including Changi Airport, a ferry terminal, a border crossing to Malaysia, schools, hospitals, polyclinics and private clinics.
Although the city-state has not recorded a single case of bird flu, health authorities were taking no chances.
People visiting the National University and Singapore General Hospital had their temperatures scanned and received surgical masks to wear in wards. Both facilities posted signs informing visitors of the drill and handed out letters to confined patients.
Staff were dressed in full personal protective gear -- masks, gowns and gloves.
The bird-flu death toll in both Indonesia and Vietnam has hit 42. Other Southeast Asian countries have been hit as well, but with fewer fatal cases reported.
Authorities at three border checkpoints simulated moving "sick" volunteers on board a plane, a ferry and a tour bus to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), while registering other "passengers" for contact tracing later.
Clinics and general practitioners were also isolating and transferring volunteer "patients" to TTSH.
The drills yesterday and today "will test and fine-tune" the Flu Pandemic Readiness and Response plan at various levels, the Ministry of Health said. It will determine how well border authorities, health institutions and schools can cope with patients in a pandemic.
"Exercises like this inject a degree of realism and help us better prepare," said K. Satku, the health ministry's director of medical services.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
RSS