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Singapore Swine Flu: Singapore on Orange Alert!


I was cutting oranges and busy satiating my tastebuds with the Vitamin-C rich juices emanating from these fruits when I read the headlines which hogged today’s newspapers. In essence, the headlines read: Singapore raised its pandemic alert for Swine Flu from Yellow to Orange.

So Singapore is now on Orange Alert! I looked at the oranges that I held in my hand and some of which were already crushed in my mouth! Oh no, with Singapore on Orange Alert, does it mean that we have no more oranges to eat already? Of course, it is just a joke, the message is serious: Orange Alert for Swine Flu for our Singapore means that Singapore government is on full alert to mobilize all resources to tackle swine flu on the very onset of the disease here in Singapore, i.e. if there is a first reported case of Swine Flu in Singapore.

I shudder to ponder what an outbreak of Swine Flu can do to Singapore and we, the people living here. With nearly 4 million people living on this small island and the fact that we are highly connected via the very effective modes of transport, 1 swine flu case can easily and conveniently translate into more treacherous cases and death of hundreds and thousands of Singaporeans can be a likely scenario, bearing in mind that Swine Flu is unlike Bird Flu: it is more lethal.

I applaud the Singapore Government for stepping up its vigilance at all its borders, be it via sea, air or land. We must do our best to stem swine flu from setting its footprints in Singapore. Thousands of Singaporeans travel to and fro around the world, the very first case of Swine Flu, if it ever happens here in Singapore, must definitely come from a Singaporean who has contracted the disease abroad and who returns home.

At this juncture, I thought of the young lady called Esther Mok, who shared a lift in a hotel with some other mainland Chinese in year 2003, in Hong Kong. When she returned to Singapore, unknowingly, she has contracted SARs from some of these Chinese and unfortunately she became the ‘source’ of SARs in Singapore which killed several, including a famous medical Professor who fought hard to combat SARs but unfortunately contracted SARs himself during the course. I hope that there will never be another ‘Esther Mok’ in this latest Swine episode.

Just some weeks ago, Al Qaeda terrorists has claimed that they would wage a battle which will ‘astonish’ the world, I wonder whether the swine flu is an act of these wretched terrorists. If so, the world has much to worry about, for these terrorists are now exploring biological weapons which is able to carry out carnage of magnitude which will dwarf that of the 911 incident! I do hope that my fear is unfounded.

As I lay on the sofa, busy crushing the orange segments in my found, I found the link between the oranges I was busy partaking with the Orange Alert which the Singapore Government has raised: during this Orange Alert, we must eat more oranges to boost our immunity so that we are less prone to being sick and getting any flu, be it bird flu, swine flu or human flu!

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