In Major Reversal, Singapore Imposes Month-Long Lockdown As Asia Faces "Second Wave" Of COVID-19
: Live Updates
... After the global number of confirmed coronavirus cases topped 1 million on Thursday, several Asian territories and countries, including Singapore and Hong Kong, are struggling with a second wave of COVID-19 cases that health officials claim is mostly travel-related. As we reported a few days back, China has reimposed lockdowns as begins to disclose "asymptomatic" cases that government functionaries explained were left out of China's initial case totals.
Professor Gabriel Leung, an epidemiologist at the University of Hong Kong, warned on Friday that
the pandemic would likely last a few more months, even if heavy-handed prevention strategies are adopted. He also said the warmer weather would give the world no respite from the virus:
"Is warmer weather going to give us some respite? The answer is maybe, but probably not,” ...
... One major change that could foreshadow a similar move by the White House: The Singaporean government
is now advising citizens to wear facemasks in public...
... Singaporeans will need to continue
sharing all their cell phone location data with the government as part of a sweeping program of monitoring and contract tracing ...
... Additionally, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan have barred foreigners from entering in recent days. Meanwhile, Japan has barred visitors from dozens of countries, including South Korea and the US. South Korea is mandating that foreign visitors spend 14-days in a government lockdown facility...
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Experts Fear 'Suicide Wave' As The Social Fabric Of America Becomes "Unstitched"
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/a...-rough-shape-job-loss-could-lead-suicide-wave
Millions of Americans have just lost their jobs in the last several weeks due to the COVID-19 outbreak shutting down large swaths of the US economy.
Households are coming under severe financial stress, with no savings, insurmountable debts, and job loss. Many are waiting for President Trump’s stimulus check to arrive in the mail, some have skipped out on their rent or mortgage payments on April 1, and others have called their credit card companies to defer debt servicing payments as incomes for tens of millions of people have gone to zero.
The panic buying of food and supplies over the last month shows just how many people were unprepared for a national health crisis, nevertheless, now developing into an economic crash, and soon could be followed by a period of social unrest.
But before the social fabric of America becomes unstitched – households are to crack first. Their finances are piss-poor, with no savings and insurmountable debts, which include auto, credit cards, and student loans.
At the beginning of March, we noted how the gig-economy was about to crash, and by looking at the employment data that has come out since, along with future estimates,
it’s pointing to an economic depression that could be arriving as soon as the second quarter.
Households are in rough shape. Many people are heavily medicated, own weapons, and have some sort of substance use disorder, suggesting that in periods of extreme financial stress – suicides could increase.
What’s concerning is that a suicide wave among low-income folks, who are already feeling the side effects of job loss, could be imminent.
President Trump warned in the last week of March that nationwide lockdowns must be reversed to prevent “tremendous death” from the economic depression, referring to the likely increase of suicides.
The 2008 Great Recession resulted in more than 10,000 suicides. The Great Depression resulted in tens of thousands of people taking their own lives.
...households are crushed, have no money and or job, and that is likely why President Trump signed an executive order last Friday to call up as many as one million National Guard and reservists –
not just to fight the virus outbreak – but to maintain social order.