New York Times Why Corona Cases Spike In Hong Kong Singapore Taiwan And Cover Your Hair

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Here is a snip of an interesting article in the New York Times explaining why the Corona Virus cases are spiking again in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The quick answer : People coming in from overseas.  Click here for the full article.

I have some comments at the end.




Why Coronavirus Cases Have Spiked in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan
By K.K. Rebecca Lai April 9, 2020
Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan — once heralded for early successes in battling the pandemic — are now confronting a new wave of coronavirus cases, largely fueled by infections coming from elsewhere. Singapore is also seeing a rise in local transmissions, with more than 400 new cases in the past week that have been linked to migrant worker dormitories.

The first confirmed cases in all three places were connected to people who had traveled to Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began, followed by small clusters of cases among residents with no travel history. Despite their proximity to mainland China, however, they had all managed to keep their case counts low for weeks, through vigilant monitoring and early intervention.
None of these places had a single day with more than 10 new cases until March, even as the coronavirus spread around the world. 

That changed in the past two weeks, as both Hong Kong and Singapore saw new cases in the double digits for consecutive days, with the bulk attributed to those who have traveled from abroad. Singapore’s numbers are now triple-digits, with large clusters of cases linked to dorms for migrant workers. 

Taiwan was hit with a surge of new cases, the vast majority of which were imported from other countries, while the number of locally transmitted infections remained low.

Recent scenes at airports in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, from left.Lam Yik Fei for The New York Times, Sam Yeh/Agence France-Presse, Adam Dean for The New York Times — Getty Images, from left.

Students or expatriates returning from Europe or the United States account for a large share of the imported cases. At least 191 of the confirmed cases in Hong Kong, for example, were among students who had returned from studying abroad in Britain. Similarly, 46 cases in Taiwan were among students studying abroad in Britain who had returned home after mid-March.
My comments :  
1.  We really have to keep an eye on Indonesia and the Indons who travel back and forth. No one (not even President Jokowi) knows the real situation regarding the Corona Virus in Indonesia. 
Our Immigration has to really shut down the human traffic  crossing in from Indonesia.   
 2.   My view is BARBER SHOPS should not be allowed to open yet. Barber shops are usually small in size and have poor ventilation. People will sit in the same barber chair for a long time. Even if only one customer is allowed at one time, there are common scissors and other stuff that are used by the barbers / hairdressers. It is high risk. My regrets to the barbers and hair dressers.
3. I do note that super modern, highly urbanised, highly 'urban-built-environment' countries like China, Europe, US and South Korea saw the fastest spread of this virus. 
Whereas the spread of the virus (thus far because I dont know if it will increase its speed later)  spreading in less developed countries with less built-environments like Pakistan, maybe even Indonesia, the sub Saharan countries etc seems to be slower.
Here are today's top Corona Virus  contenders  :

Well even Iran does have a well developed and largely urban living population.
The thing is it is known now that the virus can survive on metal surfaces, glass, aluminium, plastic and even on the pavements for THREE DAYS. You can dispute this THREE DAYS (3 days, 6 days, eight hours on cardboard etc etc) but for a certainty the virus CAN survive on glass, metal, plastic, pavement and other hard surfaces.
I think this is why the virus is spreading so fast in modern towns and cities with modern buildings, with glass frontages, metal wall cladding, smooth shiny floors, ATM machines made of metal and hard plastic, escalators, bus stops, buses, MRT / LRT / subway stations and trains, the FIVE FOOT WAYS, the hard road surfaces, etc.
This is all called the built-environment. The more built-environment that you have in modern urban areas the more surfaces the virus has to settle on - and stay alive for up to three days or maybe more. 

AND THEN THE VIRUS CAN BE PICKED UP BY ANY HUMAN CONTACT OR ANIMAL CONTACT (STICK TO PIGEONS LEGS, CATS FUR, DOGS ETC) OR THE VIRUS CAN BE BLOWN AROUND BY THE WIND.
The Italians have identified shoes as the culprit in taking the virus home. 
SO PLEASE WASH YOUR FOOTWEAR BEFORE YOU GO INSIDE YOUR HOUSE.
WEAR CLOSED SHOES (NO OPEN TOES) BECAUSE THE VIRUS IS ON THE PAVEMENT AND ROAD SURFACES.
TRY NO TO TOUCH YOUR SHOES TOO MUCH.
WASH YOUR HANDS THOROUGHLY AFTER TOUCHING YOUR SHOES.
PLACE YOUR SHOES OUTSIDE THE HOUSE IN SUNLIGHT FOR AS LONG AS YOU CAN.
COVER YOUR HAIR WHEN YOU GO OUT - MEN AND WOMEN. WEAR A HAT, SCARF, CAP ANYTHING THAT COVERS YOUR HAIR.
THE HAIR ON THE HEAD IS NOT AN AURAT BUT HUMAN HAIR PROVIDES A HUGE SURFACE AREA FOR DUST AND VIRUSES TO SETTLE UPON.
I BELIEVE HUMAN HAIR AND SHOES ARE A BIG CULPRIT IN SPREADING THIS CORONA VIRUS AROUND.
PLUS ALL THE METAL, PLASTIC, STONE, ALUMINIUM, GLASS, PAVEMENTS, ROAD AND OTHER HARD SURFACES THAT WE FIND IN AN URBAN ENVIRONMENT ARE PROVIDING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR THE CORONA VIRUS TO SURVIVE FOR DAYS.
If someone infected with the Corona Virus sneezes or coughs in the Sahara Desert I dont think that aerosol will survive long. 
Posted by Syed Akbar Ali 

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