Risk Assessment Report – 27 march 2020
Risk Assessment Report – 27 march 2020
Rapid Risk Assessment
March 27, 2020
Risk Assessment Report – 27 march 2020
Time Period Covered March 27, 2020 - March 27, 2020
- The chief of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday (March 26) that the world has squandered the first window of opportunity to defeat COVID-19 in the past two months and should not squander the second one now. Tedros reiterated that asking people to stay at home and shutting down population movement is buying time and reducing the pressure on health systems, but the measures on their own will not extinguish epidemics. He listed key measures that countries should take during the second window of opportunity, such as expanding, training and deploying healthcare and public health workforce; implementing a system to find every suspected case at community level; ramping up the production, capacity and availability of testing; identifying, adapting and equipping facilities to treat and isolate patients; developing a clear plan and process to quarantine contacts; and refocusing the whole of government on suppressing and controlling Covid-19
- With the new cases recorded on March 26 (19,576 additional cases bringing the total number to 81,384), the United States surpassed China as the country with more cumulative cases of COVID-19. The states with the highest number of confirmed cases include New York (37,738), New Jersey (6,876), California (3,718), Michigan (2,856) and Washington (2,588). New York and New Jersey saw the most rapid rates of change over the past 24 hours, with a 22.48% and 87.1% increase in cases, respectively.
- In Singapore, the city-state made it an offense for a person to intentionally stand close to another person as part of its coronavirus defense. Starting March 27, anyone caught breaking Singapore's social distancing rules can land themselves in prison. Under updates to its powerful infectious diseases law, anyone who intentionally sits less than 1 meter away from another person in a public place or on a fixed seat demarcated as not to be occupied, or who stands in a queue less than a meter away from another, will be guilty of an offense. Offenders can be fined up to S$10,000, jailed for up to six months, or both. The rules, in place until April 30, can be applied to individuals and businesses. Authorities have said more drastic measures may be needed if locals do not take social distancing seriously.
- Vietnam has banned the gathering of more than 20 people for at least two weeks from March 28 and temporarily shut down services like massage parlors, tourist sites, and cinemas nationwide. In addition, major cities like Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Can Tho and Da Nang would need to temporarily shut down all service facilities except for food, pharmacy, and medical treatment services.
- Malaysia's Health Ministry stated that five generations of positive COVID-19 cases that were linked to the tabligh gathering in the Seri Petaling Mosque last month. The tabligh cluster makes up 55% of all the COVID-19 cases in the country, or 1,117 of 2,031 cases. In addition, more than half of the 23 deaths linked to COVID-19 were also linked to this cluster.
- Singapore has sent medical supplies to Brunei that will allow doctors there to detect and help contain the coronavirus outbreak. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Wednesday (March 25) that the Government has contributed diagnostic kits that can perform 3,000 tests and a polymerase chain reaction machine to test for Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Singapore previously sent medical supplies to the Philippines on Tuesday (March 24), to Myanmar on March 4, and to China on Feb 19 and Feb 8.
- Vietnamese officials on Wednesday thanked the Philippine government for helping arrange the flight back home of 172 mostly young Vietnamese students from Cebu province amid COVID-19 pandemic. The Vietnamese Embassy in Manila acquired permission and coordinated with representatives of the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Tourism to charter a Vietnam Airlines plane that flew the students from Cebu to the southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho.
Risk Assessment Report – 27 march 2020