First flight under expanded Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme to touch down at Changi Airport on Wednesday - The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - The first flight under the expanded quarantine-free travel scheme for travellers vaccinated against Covid-19 will touch down in Singapore on Wednesday morning (Oct 20), in the next step of Singapore's border reopening.

SQ329, which is operated by Singapore Airlines (SIA), is expected to touch down at Changi Airport at 5.55am on Wednesday. It will depart from Amsterdam in the Netherlands at 11.15am local time (5.15pm Singapore time) on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the first Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) flight from the United States, SQ23, is expected to depart from New York at Tuesday night local time, and land in Singapore at 5.20am on Thursday.

The Netherlands and the United States are among eight countries that the Republic will open up Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) to from Tuesday. The other countries are Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, Spain and Britain.

Singapore had earlier opened up VTLs to Germany and Brunei on Sept 8. It will jointly launch VTLs with South Korea on Nov 15.

The VTL scheme allows vaccinated travellers on designated flights to enter Singapore quarantine-free.

But they must take a Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before departure and when they land at Changi Airport.

There is currently no outbound VTL flights as the scheme is a unilateral move by Singapore, with the only exception being the upcoming arrangement with South Korea.

As the eight countries that Singapore will open up to from Tuesday had already unilaterally opened up to the Republic earlier, this means travellers from Singapore could already fly to these countries on any flight without having to serve quarantine there.

The launch of the eight new VTLs represents Singapore's biggest move to reopen its borders since the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been welcomed by the industry as a step forward in reviving the Republic's air hub and tourism sector.

Mr Toh Thiam Wei, founder of tour company Indie Singapore, has received "a handful" of bookings over the past two weeks from travellers from Germany and their families here.

There were six groups in total, comprising two to six customers each. Mr Toh has received inquiries, but no bookings from guests from other VTL countries.

Pre-pandemic, the company used to receive between 20 and 30 guests a day.

Mr Toh, who is also a tour guide, said the bookings for his firm's walking tours were unexpected but welcome.

"I did not think tours would be high on the priority list for people here to spend time with family," he said.

Hotels, too, have reported a rise in inquiries.

Mr Paul Er, vice-president of sales for Asia for Millennium Hotels and Resorts, said inquiries for the group's Orchard Hotel have doubled since the announcement of the new VTL countries, but he declined to reveal booking numbers.

The hotel last week launched a "Stay to eat free 100%" promotion, where guests will receive the full amount of their stay in dining credits.

Initially targeted at local staycationers, Mr Er said the package has been popular among VTL guests who can order in-room dining while waiting for the results of their on-arrival Covid-19 PCR test.

"We anticipate bookings to spike when similar VTLs are established with countries within our region, as the rise in leisure trips will outpace the recovery of business travel," he added.

But experts have cautioned that the VTLs will not be a silver bullet for the aviation and tourism sector.

They also noted that the cap of allowing just 3,000 travellers to come in under the VTLs daily will limit the impact of the scheme.

Aviation analyst from Endau Analytics Shukor Yusof said: "The VTL is a great morale booster for some in Singapore, and indeed for SIA, but I am not convinced it will help much in reducing the cash burn the flag carrier is facing.

"Moreover, these schemes will widen inequality as air travel becomes the privilege of the affluent and the fully vaccinated, which could result in an imbalance in mobility amongst the masses."

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2021-10-18 13:39:11Z
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Britain falls behind Europe on Covid-19 as surge sparks call for probe into Delta Plus mutation - The Straits Times

LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - Surging cases in the UK have left the country behind the rest of Europe with former US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Scott Gottlieb calling for "urgent research" into a mutation of the Delta variant known as Delta Plus.

Britain reported 45,140 new cases on Sunday (Oct 17), the highest daily jump since mid-July, around when Prime Minister Boris Johnson authorised the removal of most Covid-19-related restrictions in what was dubbed "Freedom Day".

Weekly deaths from the virus topped 800 for each of the past six weeks, higher than in other major western European nations, according to Bloomberg’s tracker. 

The UK also has lagged in rolling out the vaccines to adolescents amid concerns that some side effects undermined the net benefit of the shots given children are less likely to become seriously ill.

The delay meant most older children weren't offered a vaccine until the school year had started. Prevalence of Covid-19 is growing among those aged 17 and younger, the latest React-1 study led by Imperial College London found last week.

The reproduction rate in that age group was 1.18, meaning that on average every 10 young people infected are passing it on to about 12 others. 

The Delta plus strain Dr Gottlieb highlighted includes the K417N mutation, which has also stoked concern because that’s also harboured by the Beta variant that’s associated with an increased risk of reinfection.

"We need urgent research to figure out if this Delta Plus is more transmissible, has partial immune evasion," Dr Gottlieb said in a tweet on Sunday. "There's no clear indication that it's considerably more transmissible, but we should work to more quickly characterise these and other new variants. We have the tools."

British researchers said in late June that there is no evidence yet to suggest the additional mutation is more worrisome.

A German paper earlier this month found while both Delta and Delta Plus infect lung cells more efficiently than the original coronavirus strain, Delta Plus does not appear to be significantly more dangerous than Delta.

In England, the percentage of people testing positive continued to increase in the week ending Oct 9, with an estimated 890,000 people having Covid-19, or about 1 in 60, according to the Office for National Statistics.

To date, Britain has recorded almost 140,000 Covid-19-related fatalities.

"At the moment the UK has a higher level of Covid-19 than most other comparable countries, this is seen not just in positive tests but in hospital admissions and deaths," Dr Jim Naismith, a professor at the University of Oxford, wrote in a statement published by the Science Media Centre on Oct 15. Each death "represents a tragedy", he said.

Dr Gottlieb, who serves on Pfizer's board of directors, led the FDA from 2017 to 2019. He has been promoting his new book, Uncontrolled Spread: Why Covid-19 Crushed Us And How We Can Defeat The Next Pandemic.

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2021-10-18 10:26:18Z
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Ex-US Secretary of State Colin Powell dies of Covid-19 complications - TODAY

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1. Ex-US Secretary of State Colin Powell dies of Covid-19 complications  TODAY
2. Colin Powell: War hero, historymaker haunted by Iraq  The Straits Times
3. Colin Powell: Former US secretary of state dies of Covid complications  BBC News
4. Colin Powell, former US secretary of state, dies at 84 of Covid complications  The Guardian
5. Colin Powell, First US Black Secretary Of State, Dies Of Covid  NDTV
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2021-10-18 12:20:26Z
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FPDA nations mark 50 years of defence pact with aerial, naval display at Marina South - CNA

SINGAPORE: Member states of the Five Power Defence Arrangements (FPDA) commemorated 50 years of the defence pact with an aerial and naval display at Marina South on Monday (Oct 18).

Past noon, spectators watched fighter jets and helicopters from different countries fly close to each other. But the best was saved for the last, when three Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) F-15SG fighters streaked across the gloomy sky in a deafening boom.

The FPDA, formed in 1971 against the backdrop of armed conflict across Southeast Asia, comprises Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Britain.

Under the pact, member states must consult each other in case of an armed attack on Malaysia or Singapore.

Singapore’s Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen told reporters on Monday that the FPDA remains “relevant” despite the changing security challenges in the region 50 years on.

He said that the FPDA adopts a “non-threatening” posture that is “not directed at any one country, but as a regional grouping that promotes inclusiveness and cooperation among the nations”.

“I don't think the security context in this region demands a military grouping where you can trigger it very quickly,” he said.

“For traditional threats – country to country – there are no impending threats. So I think the posture of the FPDA is adequate for security challenges.

“It doesn't mean that we won't have surprises. But I think what we're doing is exactly the right thing: To continue to … build understanding so that you can be more responsible.”

Under FPDA, member states participate in annual military exercises to strengthen cooperation and build professional relationships. The most recent example was Exercise Bersama Gold 2021, held from Oct 4 until Monday.

Named Bersama Gold instead of the usual Bersama Lima to commemorate FPDA’s 50th anniversary, the exercise saw army, air force and navy assets from member states take part in a virtual jungle warfare workshop, air defence exercises as well as anti-submarine exercises respectively.

“The fact that despite the pandemic, where we could hold an exercise with close to 3,000 troops, many ships, planes, submarine, reflects the commitment of the five nation countries of this military group,” Dr Ng said.

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2021-10-18 06:55:00Z
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UK police probe MP murder as suspect said to be on 'de-radicalisation' scheme - CNA

LEIGH-ON-SEA: The family of murdered British MP David Amess said on Sunday (Oct 17) they were "completely broken" by his death, but that hatred had to be set aside as they made a plea for "togetherness".

Veteran Conservative lawmaker Amess, who was 69, was stabbed to death on Friday as he met voters at a church in Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, in the second such attack on an MP in just over five years.

Police have declared the crime a terrorist incident and said they are investigating "a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism".

They have detained a 25-year-old man under the Terrorism Act, which allowed them to extend his detention for questioning until Friday. He has not been charged.

"We are absolutely broken, but we will survive and carry on for the sake of a wonderful and inspiring man," the bereaved family said in a statement, while calling on people to set aside their differences and "work towards togetherness".

Detectives said late on Saturday they were searching three addresses in the London area in a "fast-paced investigation".

On Sunday, police stood on guard in front of a three-storey house in a quiet street in the north London district of Kentish Town.

A woman living nearby told AFP she did not think the suspect lived there.

"We know the family, they are lovely people. They have three sons but they are older" (than the suspect), said the woman, who did not give her name.

'SELF-RADICALISED'

British media, citing unnamed official sources, identified the suspect as Ali Harbi Ali, a British national of Somali descent who had been referred to Prevent, the official counter-terrorist scheme for those thought to be at risk of radicalisation.

Ali was believed not to have spent long on the programme, which is voluntary, and was never formally a "subject of interest" to MI5, the domestic security agency, the BBC said.

The suspected attacker remained at the scene after stabbing Amess multiple times, British media reported.

The Amess family in their statement said: "We are trying to understand why this awful thing has occurred. Nobody should die in that way. Nobody. Please let some good come from this tragedy."

Police and security services believe the suspect acted alone and was "self-radicalised", The Sunday Times said, while adding he may have been inspired by Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia.

Ali's father, named as Harbi Ali Kullane and said to be a former adviser to the prime minister of Somalia, confirmed to The Sunday Times that his son was in custody, adding: "I'm feeling very traumatised."

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2021-10-17 20:20:10Z
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Merck COVID-19 pill sparks calls for access for lower income countries - CNA

Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organisation, has 24 companies signed up and willing to make the drug if Merck agrees to expand the licences.

“If you're not in the licence, you're relying on Merck, and it looks to us that that could mean a potential supply shortfall as well as overpricing," said Peter Maybarduk of Public Citizen, who sits on the MPP governance board. He suggested that could lead to wealthy countries outbidding poor nations for the medicine.

It is unclear how many generic pills will be available or when. The licensed Indian manufacturers including Aurobindo Pharma, Cipla, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Emcure Pharmaceuticals, Hetero Labs, Sun Pharmaceuticals, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals declined to provide details on production plans.

In addition, manufacturing for low-income countries in many nations also requires World Health Organization (WHO) approval, a regulatory process that typically takes months.

Merck said it is committed to providing timely access to its drug globally with plans for tiered pricing aligned with a country’s ability to pay. A spokesperson confirmed it is in discussions about expanding licences for generic molnupiravir "to build sufficient global supply of quality-assured product to meet orders globally."

But middle-income countries will be hard pressed to negotiate against the richest nations, another MPP official said.

The governments of Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia said they already had deals or were negotiating supply contracts with Merck. The EU is considering buying the pill after Merck applies for authorisation in Europe.

The eight generic manufacturers chosen by Merck all have WHO pre-qualified facilities to allow them to supply buyers like the Global Fund, according to Paul Schaper, Merck's executive director of global public policy. They will set their pricing and decide how much they plan to manufacture.

“What we are anticipating and hoping for is that they will compete with each other on pricing,”  Schaper said.

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2021-10-17 14:48:32Z
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UK says it will beef up MPs' security after killing of David Amess - CNA

LEIGH-ON-SEA, United Kingdom: Britain's interior minister on Sunday (Oct 17) said that security for members of parliament would be beefed up, after a lawmaker was stabbed to death as he held a public meeting with constituents, in the second such attack in five years.

Veteran Conservative MP David Amess, 69, was talking with voters at a church in the small town of Leigh-on-Sea, east of London, when he was killed on Friday.

The attack has spread fear among MPs, coming just over five years after the similar killing of Labour MP Jo Cox in the febrile run-up to the Brexit referendum.

Police have said that they are investigating "a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism". The investigation is being led by Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command.

Home Secretary Priti Patel has ordered a review of security measures for lawmakers and told Sky News that "we need to close any gaps" in security provision for MPs, whose work includes regular meetings with constituents, called "surgeries".

She said that police and parliamentary authorities were implementing "immediate changes and measures that are actively being put in place, and discussed with MPs".

This includes MPs sharing information on their whereabouts with police. Close protection at surgeries was also "in consideration right now", she added.

The Sunday Telegraph reported that uniformed police were guarding some surgeries following the attack, which prompted calls from some MPs for a pause in face-to-face meetings.

Police said late on Saturday that detectives had until Friday to question the suspected attacker after he was detained under the Terrorism Act, which allowed them to extend his detention.

He has not been charged.

British media, citing unnamed official sources, identified the suspect as Ali Harbi Ali.

Reports said that he was a British national of Somali descent who had been referred to Prevent, the United Kingdom's official counterterrorism scheme for those thought to be at risk of radicalisation.

Ali is not believed to have spent a long time on the programme, which is voluntary, and was never formally a "subject of interest" to MI5, the domestic security agency, said the BBC.

The Prevent programme is currently under independent review.

"We want to ensure (the Prevent programme) is fit for purpose, robust, doing the right thing, but importantly, learning lessons," Patel told Sky News.

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2021-10-17 09:11:00Z
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