Day 13 of Singapore's COVID-19 Circuit Breaker - No more Big Mac!

It is day 13 of the Singapore's COVID-19 circuit breaker. Went to a local market area in the morning and it was quite crowded. As you can see from the picture below, all people are wearing mask now as the government mandated it a few days back.

You might also observe on the bottom left of the picture that the tables are stacked up together. This is because eating outlets are complying with the no dine-in rule and have to make sure no one can use the tables.

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No more Big Macs for now...

Last Sunday five employees from McDonald's were diagnosed with COVID-19 and they had worked at outlets in Lido, Forum Galleria, Parklane and Geylang East Central. Those outlets were immediately closed as a result and a number of employees were issued leave of absence.

Not long later, McDonald's stopped all takeaway services so as to minimize risk of spread. Finally today, McDonald's announced that they will suspend all operations until 4th May after 2 more of their employees were diagnosed with the COVID-19 virus.

This is sad news for many Singaporeans as a lot of us opt to have McDonald's meals for the convenience. There are also many employees and deliverymen who will temporarily be out of job as a result.

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Breaking records

On the case counts front, new records are being set on a daily basis. Yesterday, we had 942 new cases. The day before was 623 cases and the day earlier was 728 cases.

Source

Based on the figures provided by the Ministry of Health in Singapore, most of the cases from the recent surge are foreign workers. In the table below, you can see that of the 5,992 cases 4,446 cases are foreign workers living in Singapore. I think the government is trying to paint a picture and give some assurance that local community transmission remains low. Cases from foreign workers are being tackled separately and efficiently.

Source

Judging from the ongoing situation, it seems like the worst is not over yet and I expect to see things getting worse before it gets better. Looking at the trajectory, I won't be surprise that these circuit breaker measures get extended beyond 4th May. Let's see how it goes, meanwhile stay safe and healthy everyone.

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