Damping the Spread of COVID-19

  https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases India, US and Brazil are still the top 3 countries with mots daily new cases. There is a trend of curve flattening, which is a good news to the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBPYSvBI38I Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced his decision to step down for health reasons. He said he did not want his health to get in the way of decision making and apologised to the Japanese people for failing to complete his term in office. The nation's longest-serving prime minister also said it's not up to him to decide on his successor.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/singapore-to-allow-general-travel-to-brunei-new-zealand-travellers-to-take-heed-of   Singapore will allow general travel to Brunei and New Zealand, as well as for students studying overseas from Sept 1.  The stay-home notice period for visitors from Australia (excluding Victoria state), Macau, mainland China, Taiwan, Vietnam and Malaysia will be shortened, from the current 14 days to 7 days. They will also be tested for Covid-19 before the end of their stay-home notice at their place of residence. The 3rd category of  visitors must serve the usual 14-day period at a dedicated facility. The countries in the different categories will continue to be updated over time.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WViNUlcbO4 Situation in India continue to be the most worrying. There was good progress in some cities, according to my colleagues in India. Hope situation of the whole country will improve soon. Public education and leadership is very important in this period.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=othDZcAkvEM New Zealand did a good job in controlling COVID-19, and gave the world big hope after they declared free from coronavirus in early June.  The recent few new cases and re-lockdown in Auckland made the world to know that there is still long way to go. 

 With Singapore new cases dropped to sub-100 per day, after the test of migrant workers finish last week, reopen and recovery are back to main agenda. A few ministers talked or will talk about this topic.  Ong Ye Kung: S'pore may consider rigorous testing regime instead of isolation period for travellers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygDVVVrKpog Chan Chun Sing: Singapore to help businesses worst-hit by COVID-19 to pivot to new markets https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3rQyGngDNU Heng Swee Keat to make ministerial statement on support for companies, workers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHHor2tkTdw

https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases India, USA and Brazil are still the most worrying countries. 

  https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3096556/singapore-coronavirus-cases-taper-down-significantly Singapore’s daily coronavirus case count is set to dip significantly in the coming weeks, authorities say, turning a corner as the testing of some 300,000 migrant workers living in cramped dormitories – once the epicentre of the city state’s outbreak – is completed.  These migrant workers had made big sacrifice to the rest of Singapore society in the past few months. Their mental health is a big concern, and hope their life will be back to normal soon. Here is the website that you can make a donation to help them: https://www.giving.sg/web/mwaf 

https://marketingland.com/mapping-new-economy-micro-influence-public-agencies-can-learn-brand-marketers-221097 The purpose of this blog is to spread the COVID-19 related knowledge, which I believe will help on  damping the spread of COVID-19. Since Coronavirus is highly transmissible, the whole world need to take action quickly, and almost simultaneously. Knowledge spreading would help on the activation and synchronization of world's response. I believe it important to  make it simple , and influence your circle for such knowledge spreading.  It is easy to understand that the simpler the message, the easier it can translate to people's awareness and practice to  wear a mask, wash your hands, and keep safe distancing.   But why, and how will "influence your circle" help? People in this world are so diversified, as they come from different countries, communities, families, with different age, culture, education, religion... No matter who the macro-influencers are, pres

https://www.immunology.org/news/coronavirus-immunology-qa-what-you-need-know-about-our-new-report Review from the Academy of Medical Sciences and the British Society for Immunology. A lot of good informaiton. A few example topics include:  If I am exposed to the new coronavirus, what are my chances of becoming infected? Why is the early immune response important? Can people without symptoms of COVID-19 be infectious? Does exposure to high levels of the virus make the disease more severe? Does previous exposure to other coronaviruses such as the common cold or SARS1 offer protection against the new coronavirus? Can the new coronavirus target the heart, gut and immune cells? What do we know about patients with one or more pre-existing medical conditions? How long might immunity last and what do we know about re-infection? What makes a successful vaccine? What are the research priorities? You can also read the full report here.  https://www.immunology.org/sites/default/files/Final_COVID-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCYOqx8qho8 There is no vaccine for HIV yet, but coronavirus is so different from HIV: the body does not make a very good immune response against HIV, so it makes vaccine development very difficult. Data showed that the body does make a robust immune response against coronavirus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8prOFh4KyQU Fauci: COVID-19 would unlikely disappear, because it is such a highly transmissble virus.