Last night, the [Ministry of Health] (MOH) siad it would no longer issue travel advisories to [Singaporeans]. It said such advisories had become less useful, as the risk of catching [H1N1], whether in an affected country or in [Singapore], is about equal.
Eventually, [MOH] will also drop the list of countries with confirmed victims, and those that have exported cases to [Singapore], as more countries have stopped reporting confirmed cases. For now, however, it will retain the list on its website.
[MOH] said many countries are no longer tracking the number of infections, or reporting them. A list of countries with reported confirmed cases would therefore be 'misleading', it said.
In announcing the moves, [MOH] said [H1N1] has become a global pandemic and is probably here to stay, like any other influenza strains. Thus, it said, managing the disease should be largely a matter of personal responsibility, stressing that [Singaporeans] should always observe good personal hygiene.
Also yesterday, the [Ministry of Education] (MOE) said schools will no longer require students or staff who have returned from affected countries to take leave of absence. Those currently on such leave will be told they can return to school from next week.
Students at institutions of higher learning will return to school on [Monday]. Primary, secondary and junior college students will return on [Tuesday], as the [Youth Day] holiday falls on [Monday].
[MOE] added, however, that schools will continue to stay vigilant and keep up precautionary measures to fight the spread of [H1N1]. It said regular temperature-taking and checks to spot those with flu symptoms will continue. Those who are unwell will be asked to seek medical attention and to rest at home.
Schools will also remind students about the importance of personal hygiene and social responsibility.
[MOE] said feedback from schools showed the precautionary measures taken in the past week to stop an outbreak of [H1N1] had been carried out smoothly.
Yesterday's announcements are the latest steps in [Singapore]'s moves to mitigate the effects of [H1N1], rather than contain the disease.
The steps were taken because the virus has spread rapidly within the community: The latest [MOH] tally shows 969 victims here, with 91 new cases confirmed yesterday.
Other moves taken this week include treating patients at polyclinics and certain private clinics called [Pandemic Preparedness Clinics] (PPCs).
Of the local cases confirmed yesterday, 21 were from 2 new clusters - the [National University Hospital] (NUH) had 5 and a tour group had the rest.
At [NUH], 2 doctors, 2 nurses and a patient contracted the bug, said a hospital spokesman.
She said the clinical staff caught the virus as they were not in high-risk areas and were thus not geared in full personal protective equipment. All are in stable condition, she said.
No details of the tour group cluster were produced.
- [The Straits Times] pg A8, [Saturday], 04/07/2009
Despite what was reported in the above-mentioned article, I shouldn't have left the confines of my house on [Sat] as I found out much, much later as the leave of absence is canceled for ppl who're returning from overseas... I could argue why I feel tt it's still okay to travel all the way to town, to [SunTec Convention Centre] to be exact, but doing so would be extremely time consuming and would make me sound tt I'm trying to justify an otherwise wrong action in my part...
The bottomline is, I'm still as healthy as I could possibly be and am no plague carrying monster... The mircobes have been kind to avoid me, it seems... LOL...
I gaev a call to [MJ] to ask her out and it's a good thing she's still able to join me in my cosplay hunt @ [TGX 09]... She was horrendously late in meeting up with me, but not for the cosplay event, which is all tt matters...
Turns out she still got the whole [SunTec] and [Expo] confused, thinking tt they're referring to the same thing and thus, she travelled all the way to [Changi Expo], just to read my SMS, telling her tt it's in [City Hall]... Gee... -_-"'
Well, I arrived rather early and...
Realized tt there's a long queue!!! LOL... Okay, this is just another event tt's taking place somewhere on the 1st floor of [SunTec]... Thank goodness this wasn't the queue to enter [TGX 09] or I'll faint... Haha...
The poster tt tells you where [TGX 09]'s being held... It's only then tt I realised tt it's held in conjunction with [WCG 09]... Wols... -_-"'
Life-size poster of [Shana] greets you @ the entrance!!!
I saw these few posters on display as I was walking around... LOL... The [Viwawa] poster made me wanna visit tt webby to try out not only [Wahjong], but [Sushido] too... I knew abt the latter only after the guy @ the booth introduced the game to me... Haha... Okay, okay... So I'm still ignorant abt a lot of stuff, but this is what defines [~LeiLa~]... =P
[Viwawa] rocks!!! LOL!!!
A huge crowd was gathered around this LCD screen... On closer observation, it's showing a live [DOTA] match and [Bane Elemental] just did a triple kill... Hmmm... Wow, tt's like so AMAZING!!! Zzz... -_-"'Can't appreciate it as I haven't been playing tt game for quite some time already and I couldn't see what was really happening... The battleground was in utter chaos... Bah...
As you can see, the place isn't tt well lit IMO and it's not easy for me to navigate... But who cares??? The most important event is abt to take place!!!
The [Shana] impersonation competition tt's held by [Animax]!!!
There were a total of 9 contestants and the task seems simple... All they have to do is to dress up like [Shana] from [Shakugan no Shana], and act out a certain scene from the 2nd season before doing a pose for the camera wielding audience... Simple... NOT!!! It's not easy to really en-act the scenes as this is real-life... You can't pretend to get hit in the stomach, flew backwards in the air, do a somersault before landing in a crouching position and sticking the kantana in the gound to support you... You just can't... Nonetheless, I marvel @ the 8 of the contestants as they're all 1st time cosplayers... However, it's a pity tt no one decided to stand out by wearing a cloak... I betcha if someone wore a cloak, higher points would be awarded... I would!!!
A few singing performances by some cosplaters...
[Yuna] from [FFX-2]!!! *Screams and squeals*Once the competition's over - we didn't wait for the results, we headed outside to greet the rest of the cosplayers, which is what both [MJ] and I really were waiting for...
[Reno], [FFVII: Advent Children] and [Squall], [FFVIII]!!!And tt's not all from the [FF] family...
Another [Yuna], from [FFX-2]... [Songstress] dress sphere!!!
[Soul-kun] from [Soul Eater]!!! AHHH!!! It's the 1st time seeing cosplayers cosplaying characters from [Soul Eater]... LOL... And [Soul] holding [Domo-kun] is simply k-a-w-a-i-i!!! Erpx... I think my screw's a little loose here...
[Prof. Frankenstein] shall help tighten the loose screw then... *Maniacal laughter*
I don't know why, but I simply like [Lavi] from [D. Greyman]... *Swoons*And here's more [D. Greyman] cosplayers!!!
[Vampire Knight]... Where are the [Day Class] ppl??? Hmmm... o_O
Hmmm... If I'm not mistaken, this is a character from the [Guilty Gear] fighting game...
[Super Mario]!!!And the following are more cosplayers... It's totally eye opening!!!
By the time I'm done with being trigger happy, my legs are protesting for a rest and so we headed to [Starbucks] to rest as well as to enjoy a cuppa high class, expensive kohe...
Me posing with my [Animax] notebook which I won thanks to [Saki Yuji]... Haha... Well, in the middle of the [Shana]competition, there was a quiz and I decided to provide the answer to 1 of the question tt asked for any [Shakugan no Shana] characters... Heke... ^_^Okay, so I actually got 2 copies, but seeing tt I won't have much use of both copies, I've decided to give 1 to [MJ]... See??? Ain't I kind??? LOL!!!
*Sigh* All in all, I've a great time and attending this [TGX 09] is sufficient... In lieu of my upcoming tests, I've no choice but to stay @ home this weekend to do some mugging, thus giving [Cosfest VIII] a miss... Not to worry though, there's always the next yr to look forward to!!! *Grin* =D
