Commentary: Maskless coughs and sneezes show we haven't learnt anything from the COVID-19 pandemic - CNA

FRESH WAVE OF INFECTION IN SINGAPORE

In Singapore, the current COVID-19 wave is being driven by multiple variants XBB, XBB.1.5, XBB.1.9, XBB.1.16, XBB.2.3, BN.1, CH.1.1, but without a clear dominant strain, said Mr Ong on Friday. There has been no evidence showing that any of the current XBB strains cause more severe illnesses.

Official data shows that the number of COVID-19 infections spiked to 28,410 cases in the final week of March, almost double the previous week's 14,467 cases.

The actual number of cases, however, is likely to be higher as MOH no longer imposes mandatory testing, and official case numbers are estimated based on the National ARI (Acute Respiratory Infection) Surveillance Programme. Many people are also choosing to recover at home on their own, and do not get tested.

Clinics in Singapore said they have seen a spike in patient load as well as patients seeking medical treatment for influenza.

When my family went to a doctor on Tuesday morning, we waited three hours for our turn, with 30 other patients in the line before us.

HAVING TO PAY FOR COVID-19 TESTS AND TREATMENT

As part of Singapore’s move to the endemic phase, financing support for COVID-19 testing and treatment was scaled back and re-aligned with that of other acute illnesses from Apr 1.

COVID-19 patients admitted to a C-class ward might pay up to S$700 (US$528) after subsidies and tapping MediShield Life, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Health Rahayu Mahzam told Parliament in February. The cost for COVID-19 treatment for subsidised patients at polyclinics is about S$20 to S$35, similar to other acute respiratory diseases.

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2023-04-14 22:00:00Z
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Ukraine troops forced to pull back in Bakhmut as Russia launches new push - CNA

Capturing the city would be Russia's first substantial victory in eight months. Moscow says it would open a route to capturing more territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, a major war aim.

After major Ukrainian breakthroughs in the second half of 2022, the front lines have barely budged over the last five months, despite a massive Russian offensive.

"READYING OUR BOYS"

Moscow has made use of hundreds of thousands of freshly conscripted reservists and thousands of convicts recruited as mercenaries from jails. Kyiv, meanwhile, has mostly stuck to defending its lines while waiting for the arrival of new Western arms for an expected counter-offensive in coming months.

"We are readying our boys," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address late on Thursday. "We look forward to the delivery of weapons promised by our partners. We are bringing victory closer as much as possible."

Ukraine had appeared likely to abandon Bakhmut at the end of February, but announced in March it would fight on there, saying it was worth defending the largely ruined city because of the losses it was inflicting on Russians trying to assault it.

Both sides say they are inflicting huge casualties. US intelligence documents leaked last week said Russia had lost 35,500 to 43,000 soldiers killed, while Ukraine had lost 15,500 to 17,500, between a third and half as many.

Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of Ukrainian civilians have also been killed across the country since Russia launched its invasion in February last year. Moscow claims the war is necessary to protect Russia from a security threat. Kyiv and the West call it an unprovoked war to conquer an independent country.

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2023-04-14 11:38:00Z
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Final lap for Malaysian trishaw maker - CNA

He rolls out three to four pedicabs annually, selling them for RM7,500 (US$1,700) each.

"I've no feelings. It's just a job," Choo, a man of few words, said when asked how he feels after completing a trishaw.

There are just over 130 trishaws in Penang, where they differ in style from the few dozen found in the southern state of Melaka, where the vehicles remain popular among tourists.

Melaka's trishaws are designed to have their rider sit beside their passengers, while Penang handlers pedal from behind.

None of Choo's children are interested in trishaws, nor is he keen to teach them as it involves a lot of hard work and spare parts that are hard to find.

And he is looking forward to his retirement.

"Maybe I'll go stay at my son's house or go on holiday," he said with a small grin.

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2023-04-14 06:37:29Z
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US airman arrested over Pentagon documents leak - CNA

TOP SECRET MATERIAL

According to the New York Times, a "trail of digital evidence" pointed to Teixeira as the leader of the private group on Discord, called Thug Shaker Central, where the documents surfaced.

The embarrassing security breach - which included top secret documents - has revealed US unease over the viability of a coming counteroffensive by Kyiv's forces against Russian troops as well as concerns about Ukrainian air defences, and pointed to US spying on allies including Israel and South Korea.

President Joe Biden addressed the leak during a visit to Ireland, saying he was "concerned" but that the intelligence community and Justice Department were "getting close" to identifying the source of the leak.

Biden was later briefed on the arrest, the White House said.

The alleged leaker reportedly went by the nickname "OG" and regularly posted documents in the chat group in question for months.

The group of around 24 people, including some from Russia and Ukraine, bonded over their "mutual love of guns, military gear and God", and formed an "invitation-only clubhouse in 2020 on Discord", reported the Post - which, like the Times, cited unidentified members of Thug Shaker Central.

OG told the group members that he spent "some of his day inside a secure facility that prohibited cellphones and other electronic devices", the Post report said.

He first wrote down the contents of classified documents to share with the group, but later began taking photos, telling other members not to share them, the newspaper reported.

OG had a "dark view of the government", and "spoke of the United States, and particularly law enforcement and the intelligence community, as a sinister force that sought to suppress its citizens and keep them in the dark", the Post said, citing one of the group's members.

A Discord spokesperson told AFP that user safety is a priority, and that content violating its policies can result in people being banned, servers being shut down and police alerted.

"In regards to the apparent breach of classified material, we are cooperating with law enforcement," the spokesperson said.

"As this remains an active investigation, we cannot provide further comment at this time."

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2023-04-13 21:36:00Z
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Blinken seeking to upgrade Vietnam ties as Hanoi treads narrow path - CNA

HANOI: United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will visit Vietnam this week hoping for progress towards upgrading relations with a key trade partner that shares US worries about China's growing might.

For Hanoi, it will be a delicate test: How to show openness to the United States without angering China, a giant neighbour that supplies key inputs for Vietnam's vital export trade, or Russia, another traditional partner.

It is a balancing act Vietnam has excelled at but one that is turning more complex in a world appearing to divide into opposing blocs, with the US and its allies on one side and China and Russia on the other.

Blinken will arrive in Hanoi on Friday (Apr 14) and will meet Vietnamese leaders on Saturday before heading to Tokyo for a meeting of the Group of Seven (G7) rich nations.

It will be the first Hanoi visit by the secretary of state of the Biden administration, which took office in 2021, although Vice President Kamala Harris visited in August of that year.

Washington will be hoping for progress towards boosting relations to a "strategic" partnership from one that for the past decade has been called "comprehensive".

Officials have not said what this closer relationship might entail. But Southeast Asia expert Murray Hiebert, who visited Vietnam in February and spoke with senior government officials, said that it could include increased military cooperation and US weapons supplies.

He noted, however, there were limits given Vietnam's policy of not allowing foreign bases, foreign troops or alliances against other countries.

Hanoi has also been put off by the relatively high price of US arms and concerns that supplies could be blocked by US lawmakers on human rights grounds.

Blinken will also formally break ground on a new US embassy compound in Hanoi, in what the top US diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, called "a stunning new symbol" of the US commitment to an "enduring partnership and friendship".

With the Vietnam War era an increasingly distant memory, Washington now considers Hanoi, in Kritenbrink's words, "one of America's most important partners in the region".

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2023-04-13 19:01:38Z
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WHO monitoring new Covid-19 sub-variant Arcturus, which is driving surge of cases in India - The Straits Times

Some cases of Arcturus have been reported among infants, said The Telegraph.

“We need to remain alert, but there is no need to worry,” said Indian Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in the report.

“Currently, the sub-variant of Omicron which is circulating in the country hasn’t led to an increase in the rate of hospitalisation,” he added.

The sub-variant, which is reportedly one of more than 600 Omicron sub-variants, was first detected in January. It has been detected in more than 20 countries, including Singapore, the United States, Britain and Australia.

In the last week of March in Singapore, 28,410 Covid-19 cases were recorded. This is almost double the previous week’s figure of 14,467. It is not known how many of these cases are due to the new sub-variant.

The Ministry of Health told CNA that the current Covid-19 infection wave is driven by a mix of XBB sub-variants, including XBB.1.5, XBB.1.9 and XBB.1.16.

However, it added that there is currently no evidence of increased severity in the cases.

At a press conference on March 29, WHO Covid-19 technical lead Maria Van Kerkhove said: “(Arcturus) has been in circulation for a few months. We haven’t seen a change in severity in individuals or in populations, but that’s why we have monitoring systems in place.”

The variant has high infectivity and pathogenicity, Dr Van Kerkhove noted.

Although Arcturus has been found in other countries, most cases were from India, where it had overtaken other variants, she added.

With the emergence of the new sub-variant, some experts said that Covid-19 remains a concern.

Virologist Lawrence Young from the University of Warwick told The Independent that the rise of the new variant in India is a sign that “we’re not yet out of the woods”.

“We have to keep an eye on it,” Professor Young said.

“When a new variant arises you have to find out if it’s more infectious, more disease-causing, is it more pathogenic? And what’s going to happen in terms of immune protection.”

“These kinds of things highlight the importance of genomic surveillance, but a lot of countries including our own have let our guard down a bit, and we can’t be sure what variants are around and what level of infection they’re causing until we see a significant outbreak.”

In 2021, India was devastated by the Delta wave, with a total of 4.7 million excess deaths according to estimates by the WHO.

The country’s health system was overwhelmed by a surge of cases triggered by the Delta Covid-19 variant, with some hospitals even running out of oxygen.

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2023-04-13 11:54:08Z
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China to ban ships from area near Taiwan due to 'falling rocket wreckage' - CNA

BEIJING: China will ban ships from entering an area north of Taiwan on Sunday (Apr 16) due to "possible falling rocket wreckage", a provincial maritime authority said, days after Beijing conducted large-scale military drills around the island.

The area around 160km from the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, will be closed from 9am to 3pm local time, the maritime safety administration of China's eastern Fujian province said Thursday.

It added that vessels would be "forbidden to enter" for the duration of the shutdown.

The announcement came after Taiwan's transport ministry said Wednesday that Beijing planned to impose a no-fly zone north of the island due to "space activities".

The air restrictions would be in force from 9.30am to 9.57am local time on Sunday, the ministry said, adding that the zone lies "on the convergence areas of many international routes".

The no-fly zone will affect about 33 flights, Taiwan's official Central News Agency reported, citing the island's transport minister, Wang Kwo-tsai.

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2023-04-13 11:31:00Z
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