Singapore politician dubs Macau battle against Covid-19 ‘Platinum Standard’

An opposition politician in Singapore has commended Macau’s approach to battling the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus, dubbing it “Platinum Standard.” Lim Tean’s comments were made on the politician’s Facebook page, “People’s Voice Singapore.”

In the acknowledgment that Macau had discharged the last of the 10 patients being treated for the Covid-19, Lim said, “The territory now has zero coronavirus patients and no new cases for over a month. […] Despite being next to mainland China, it only had 10 cases of the virus.”

In the long post, the leader of the country’s opposition party added that if there is one territory or country that deserves a platinum medal for protecting its people’s health and safety, it should be Macau. He praised the region’s authorities for their efforts in containing the disease outbreak and listed several measures undertaken by the local government, including the closing of the casinos, bars, cinemas, and other entertainment venues as well as the government’s mask distribution program.

Lim also praised the enforcement of mask usage on public transport, comparing it with the situation in Singapore, where according to his opinion, people continue to focus on whether it is necessary to wear a face mask if one is not sick.
Besides Macau, Lim also mentioned Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Thailand as other good examples of places where the wearing of face masks is widespread and encouraged, resulting in a lower number of cases of Covid-19 when compared to Singapore.

Lim urged several ministers and other people in charge of Singapore’s task force on the Covid-19 outbreak, to “learn from these countries [and regions] instead of making excuses all the time when explaining why Singapore is seeing a spike in the number of cases.”

Currently, the city-state has confirmed a total of 160 cases of Covid-19 from which 93 have recovered. No deaths due to Covid-19 have been yet reported in Singapore.

Yesterday was Macau’s fifth day Covid-19-free after a month without any new cases being reported.