More than 140,000 companies with 1.9 million local employees here will receive Singapore dollars 5.5 billion (USD 4.5 billion) this month as part of a jobs scheme to help them retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended life and businesses across the globe.

The latest payout is Singapore dollars 1.5 billion more than the last round of disbursement in July, according to a Channel News Asia report.

First announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in February's Budget, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), to be implemented from October 29, is a wage subsidy programme aimed at helping companies retain their workers as businesses have taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the October payouts, more than Singapore dollars 21.5 billion (USD 15.8) in JSS support would have been given out, said the Ministry of Finance and Inland Revenue Authority.

Meanwhile, Singapore reported four imported COVID-19 cases on Monday, all of whom have been placed under the Stay-Home Notice (SHN), taking the national tally to 57,915.

There was no locally transmitted coronavirus case, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The five imported cases, reported on Sunday, came from the Philippines, Greece, France and Guatemala. &nbsp;They are under SHN.

There are currently 40 confirmed cases in hospital and 36 are isolated and cared for at community facilities for mild symptoms.

Nine COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community facilities on Sunday, taking the recoveries to 57,807.

Separately, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has suspended operations of Hawaii Hostel from October 11 to November 9 for failing to comply with safe management measures.

The hostel is not permitted to accept new bookings or accept check-ins for the duration of its suspension.

Under the COVID-19 measures act, such first-time offenders face a fine of up to Singapore dollars 10,000.

Subsequent offences may result in a fine of up to Singapore dollars 20,000, said STB.

More than 140,000 companies with 1.9 million local employees here will receive Singapore dollars 5.5 billion (USD 4.5 billion) this month as part of a jobs scheme to help them retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended life and businesses across the globe.

More than 140,000 companies with 1.9 million local employees here will receive Singapore dollars 5.5 billion (USD 4.5 billion) this month as part of a jobs scheme to help them retain their employees during the COVID-19 pandemic that has upended life and businesses across the globe. The latest payout is Singapore dollars 1.5 billion more than the last round of disbursement in July, according to a Channel News Asia report. First announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in February's Budget, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS), to be implemented from October 29, is a wage subsidy programme aimed at helping companies retain their workers as businesses have taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic. With the October payouts, more than Singapore dollars 21.5 billion (USD 15.8) in JSS support would have been given out, said the Ministry of Finance and Inland Revenue Authority. Meanwhile, Singapore reported four imported COVID-19 cases on Monday, all of whom have been placed under the Stay-Home Notice (SHN), taking the national tally to 57,915. There was no locally transmitted coronavirus case, said the Ministry of Health (MOH). The five imported cases, reported on Sunday, came from the Philippines, Greece, France and Guatemala. They are under SHN. There are currently 40 confirmed cases in hospital and 36 are isolated and cared for at community facilities for mild symptoms. Nine COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals and community facilities on Sunday, taking the recoveries to 57,807. Separately, the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has suspended operations of Hawaii Hostel from October 11 to November 9 for failing to comply with safe management measures. The hostel is not permitted to accept new bookings or accept check-ins for the duration of its suspension. Under the COVID-19 measures act, such first-time offenders face a fine of up to Singapore dollars 10,000. Subsequent offences may result in a fine of up to Singapore dollars 20,000, said STB.

Singapore to give SGD 5.5 billion to 140,000 companies to help them during COVID-19 pandemic

Students in the Philippines have begun classes at home after the COVID-19 pandemic forced remote learning onto an educational system already struggling to fund schools. Watch report.

Remote learning in the virus-hit Philippines: COVID-19 Pandemic is reshaping the education

Millions of more Americans than usual have been working from home since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and with this workers are rethinking where to live. Watch report.

Remote working soars due to pandemic: Google employees to work from home till July 2021

Coronavirus pandemic has pushed several economies into a deep recession. The outbreak has had a big impact on the economic, social, and political fronts in many parts of the world. In Myanmar, the virus has dragged the poor families to an edge. Watch report.

Myanmar's coronavirus crisis: Virus drags poor families to the edge

For months, public health experts have been eagerly watching the companies developing spit tests for the coronavirus that could be used at home, producing results in a matter of minutes.

If these rapid tests worked, as many news articles have pointed out, they could greatly expand the number of people tested. Some experts have said they could perform as well as a vaccine in curbing the spread of the virus. But so far, the technology is not panning out as some have hoped.

E25Bio and OraSure, two companies pursuing rapid at-home coronavirus tests, have abandoned efforts to use saliva in their products. Their tests, which detect pieces of coronavirus proteins called antigens, will for now rely on shallow nose swabs.

“If I was placing a bet — which I am, because I’m leading an antigen-based testing company — I would say it’s going to be very difficult for antigen-based testing to work on saliva samples,” said Bobby Brooke Herrera, an E25Bio founder and its chief executive. The notion that the virus sets up shop in the mouth and produces enough antigen to be picked up by today’s technology, he said, “is far-fetched.”

The two companies pursued saliva (or “oral fluids,” in the case of OraSure) for months in the hopes of their tests being more comfortable than swabs, some of which go painfully deep into the nose, and less reliant on supply chains that have caused long delays for laboratory tests.

“There’s nothing more convenient than spitting in a tube,” said Dr. Valerie Fitzhugh, a pathologist at Rutgers University.

But as they continued to tinker with their tests, researchers at both E25Bio and OraSure found saliva’s performance to be more lackluster than anticipated. “This was a result of optimization studies,” said Stephen Tang, OraSure’s chief executive. A saliva antigen test is still theoretically possible, Tang added. But after comparing the amount of coronavirus antigen found in the nostrils and throat, as well as different parts of the mouth, including the cheeks, gums and tongue, “we decided to optimize around the nasal cavity,” he said.

Despite a deluge of data on saliva’s benefits, it’s relatively new to the testing scene. No fully government-approved test for a respiratory pathogen has ever used spit. And there’s still no consensus on how well saliva works for detecting the coronavirus, compared with the fluids obtained by nose swabs. Studies comparing the amount of virus in the two sites have produced conflicting results.

Spit also differs vastly among people, and can even change over the course of a single day. “We’ve all noticed that there is variable performance,” said Sarah Jung, scientific director of clinical microbiology at Children’s Hospital Colorado.

Both E25Bio and OraSure plan to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to sell at-home antigen tests using nose swabs instead of spit, a technique similar to the one used by the Abbott antigen test that takes about 15 minutes. The E25Bio test would require people to swab their nose, stir the sample into a chemical soup, apply the mixture to a paper strip and wait up to half an hour for bands to appear. E25Bio’s test picks up on about 80% of the infections that ultrasensitive laboratory tests detect — the FDA’s bare minimum for a regulatory greenlight. OraSure declined to give any details about its test’s methodology or accuracy.

Saliva does seem to be working when used in laboratory tests known as PCR, which look for bits of the virus’s genetic material, or RNA, rather than antigens. PCR tests detect minute amounts of coronavirus RNA, making them far more sensitive than antigen tests. Research teams at Rutgers and Yale have been granted emergency authorization for these spit PCR tests.

At the University of Illinois, some 10,000 of the institution’s in-house PCR tests are performed each day on saliva from students, faculty and staff members — roughly 1% of the nation’s daily tests. Standard PCR tests, however, take hours to run and are subject to shortages.

Other scientists, like Dr. Zev Williams of Columbia University, are working on variants of rapid saliva tests that, like PCR, detect RNA, but don’t require expensive laboratory machines. His team’s prototype takes 45 minutes. It uses an array of portable equipment, including two tissue-box-size heaters.

That’s too bulky and expensive for at-home testing. But he said the test could be deployed in places where crowds gather. His team has submitted an application for emergency approval from the FDA. In the meantime, they’ve partnered with Sorrento Therapeutics to scale up production.

The Columbia saliva test relies on a technique called LAMP that’s generally faster but a bit less accurate than PCR. The spit sample is briefly boiled and mixed into a cocktail of chemicals that then gets incubated at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour. The latest data shows the Columbia test performs as well as a laboratory deep-nose swab test more than 96% of the time, even when using saliva from sick patients who gave messy samples.

“Even if there was food or blood, we took it,” Williams said. That wouldn’t fly with most other saliva tests in use, he said, which ban eating, tooth-brushing and even gum chewing for about an hour before.

Another saliva LAMP test is being tested by David O’Connor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their technique bears many similarities to the Columbia test but takes slightly longer and involves extra steps. Early trials have gone well, O’Connor said.

But saliva LAMP tests face their own hurdles. Saliva tends to clump and stick, and can be a difficult substance to handle and transfer from tube to tube, said Jennifer Dien Bard, director of the clinical microbiology and virology laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

“To me,” Dien Bard said, “something like this might still belong in a lab.”

For months, public health experts have been eagerly watching the companies developing spit tests for the coronavirus that could be used at home, producing results in a matter of minutes.

For months, public health experts have been eagerly watching the companies developing spit tests for the coronavirus that could be used at home, producing results in a matter of minutes. If these rapid tests worked, as many news articles have pointed out, they could greatly expand the number of people tested. Some experts have said they could perform as well as a vaccine in curbing the spread of the virus. But so far, the technology is not panning out as some have hoped. E25Bio and OraSure, two companies pursuing rapid at-home coronavirus tests, have abandoned efforts to use saliva in their products. Their tests, which detect pieces of coronavirus proteins called antigens, will for now rely on shallow nose swabs. “If I was placing a bet — which I am, because I’m leading an antigen-based testing company — I would say it’s going to be very difficult for antigen-based testing to work on saliva samples,” said Bobby Brooke Herrera, an E25Bio founder and its chief executive. The notion that the virus sets up shop in the mouth and produces enough antigen to be picked up by today’s technology, he said, “is far-fetched.” The two companies pursued saliva (or “oral fluids,” in the case of OraSure) for months in the hopes of their tests being more comfortable than swabs, some of which go painfully deep into the nose, and less reliant on supply chains that have caused long delays for laboratory tests. “There’s nothing more convenient than spitting in a tube,” said Dr. Valerie Fitzhugh, a pathologist at Rutgers University. But as they continued to tinker with their tests, researchers at both E25Bio and OraSure found saliva’s performance to be more lackluster than anticipated. “This was a result of optimization studies,” said Stephen Tang, OraSure’s chief executive. A saliva antigen test is still theoretically possible, Tang added. But after comparing the amount of coronavirus antigen found in the nostrils and throat, as well as different parts of the mouth, including the cheeks, gums and tongue, “we decided to optimize around the nasal cavity,” he said. Despite a deluge of data on saliva’s benefits, it’s relatively new to the testing scene. No fully government-approved test for a respiratory pathogen has ever used spit. And there’s still no consensus on how well saliva works for detecting the coronavirus, compared with the fluids obtained by nose swabs. Studies comparing the amount of virus in the two sites have produced conflicting results. Spit also differs vastly among people, and can even change over the course of a single day. “We’ve all noticed that there is variable performance,” said Sarah Jung, scientific director of clinical microbiology at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Both E25Bio and OraSure plan to seek authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to sell at-home antigen tests using nose swabs instead of spit, a technique similar to the one used by the Abbott antigen test that takes about 15 minutes. The E25Bio test would require people to swab their nose, stir the sample into a chemical soup, apply the mixture to a paper strip and wait up to half an hour for bands to appear. E25Bio’s test picks up on about 80% of the infections that ultrasensitive laboratory tests detect — the FDA’s bare minimum for a regulatory greenlight. OraSure declined to give any details about its test’s methodology or accuracy. Saliva does seem to be working when used in laboratory tests known as PCR, which look for bits of the virus’s genetic material, or RNA, rather than antigens. PCR tests detect minute amounts of coronavirus RNA, making them far more sensitive than antigen tests. Research teams at Rutgers and Yale have been granted emergency authorization for these spit PCR tests. At the University of Illinois, some 10,000 of the institution’s in-house PCR tests are performed each day on saliva from students, faculty and staff members — roughly 1% of the nation’s daily tests. Standard PCR tests, however, take hours to run and are subject to shortages. Other scientists, like Dr. Zev Williams of Columbia University, are working on variants of rapid saliva tests that, like PCR, detect RNA, but don’t require expensive laboratory machines. His team’s prototype takes 45 minutes. It uses an array of portable equipment, including two tissue-box-size heaters. That’s too bulky and expensive for at-home testing. But he said the test could be deployed in places where crowds gather. His team has submitted an application for emergency approval from the FDA. In the meantime, they’ve partnered with Sorrento Therapeutics to scale up production. The Columbia saliva test relies on a technique called LAMP that’s generally faster but a bit less accurate than PCR. The spit sample is briefly boiled and mixed into a cocktail of chemicals that then gets incubated at 145 degrees Fahrenheit for half an hour. The latest data shows the Columbia test performs as well as a laboratory deep-nose swab test more than 96% of the time, even when using saliva from sick patients who gave messy samples. “Even if there was food or blood, we took it,” Williams said. That wouldn’t fly with most other saliva tests in use, he said, which ban eating, tooth-brushing and even gum chewing for about an hour before. Another saliva LAMP test is being tested by David O’Connor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Their technique bears many similarities to the Columbia test but takes slightly longer and involves extra steps. Early trials have gone well, O’Connor said. But saliva LAMP tests face their own hurdles. Saliva tends to clump and stick, and can be a difficult substance to handle and transfer from tube to tube, said Jennifer Dien Bard, director of the clinical microbiology and virology laboratory at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “To me,” Dien Bard said, “something like this might still belong in a lab.”

Companies ditch plans for rapid coronavirus spit tests at home

Watch this week's West Asia Post as we take a look at how people turned to faith in various parts of West Asia even during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The West Asia Post: Praying in times of COVID-19

Schools in the United States welcome their students back into classrooms. Epidemiologists warn parents to watch out for COVID-19 symptoms. Watch report.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Classrooms teachings resume in some US schools

The people of Lebanon are preparing for a tough winter as Lebanon faces financial ruin amid a lack of aid and leadership. Watch report.

Lebanon faces economic crisis amid COVID-19 pandemic

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the Lebanese economy was in crisis. For the migrant workers who had moved to Lebanon in search of a better life, things have become worse. Watch report.

Lebanon migrant workers: 'Kafala system' leads to exploitation

The coronavirus pandemic could lead to a spike in child marriages globally reversing 25 years of progress on ending this practice. Watch report.

COVID-19 Pandemic may lead to a spike in child marriages

Mosques reopened in and around the Libyan capital almost seven months after they were ordered to close as part of strict curbs to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 pandemic: Mosques reopen in Libyan capital with precautionary measures

The COVID-19 pandemic has hammered the luxury market. To make up for their losses in Europe and the US, the luxury brands are now focusing on China. Watch report.

Sale of luxury goods hit hard by COVID-19 pandemic: Impact not felt in China!

In an exclusive interview with Palki Sharma Upadhyay, Professor Giuseppe Tritto - a global biomedical expert - claimed that a top official from the Chinese military was leading the study on bat coronaviruses and bioweapons. Take a look. Speaking to Palki Sharma Upadhyay, Professor Giuseppe Tritto claimed that the possibility of a 'virus leak' in Wuhan cannot be ruled out. Here is a slice from that exclusive conversation.

Gravitas: Global biomedical expert: Virus could have leaked in Wuhan

Iraq has recorded several thousand new coronavirus infections every day, and the total now exceeds 300,000. More than 8,000 people have died, a number that some doctors fear will rise sharply, putting frontline healthcare workers under huge pressure and in some cases in physical danger.

Your Story: Violence mounts against Iraqi doctors as COVID-19 cases rise

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, US President Donald Trump has slammed China for the Coronavirus pandemic and the millions of lives that it has affected globally. Watch report.

US slams China over COVID-19 pandemic at UNGA

China developed vaccine against COVID-19 maybe available as early as November. Watch this video to get more on this.

China-developed vaccine against COVID-19 maybe available as early as November

Thousands of Israelis protested against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem over his alleged corruption and the government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Protests in Israel over COVID crisis: Unemployment spikes to over 20%

More than 70 people have been arrested in Melbourne, Australia, for flouting the state's stay-at-home orders to attend an anti-lockdown protest.

COVID-19 Pandemic: Several people arrested in illegal protests in Melbourne

Coronavirus pandemic has cost Mary Mae Dacanay her factory job in the Philippines, 23-year-old came up with a unique source of income- leaf art. Watch the full report to know more.

Ex-factory worker creates leaf art amid pandemic in Philippines

Millions of students will attend schools in the new academic year from September. Tens of millions of pupils returned to school in France, Poland and Russia on Tuesday, their rucksacks loaded with exercise books, geometry sets and, for many, face masks to protect them from a resurgent coronavirus pandemic.

Schools reopen in Europe amid concerns of second wave of COVID-19

Millions of kids will attend schools in new academic year from September as countries like France, Spain & US are looking at reopening amid Coronavirus pandemic. Several months long closure has widened educational gap.

Back to school in times of pandemic, France, Spain & US look at reopening

China's biggest banks suffered their worst profit decline in more than a decade. Their income falls by 11.4%. Mega four banks see loan losses rises between 27% & 97%.

China's largest 5 banks reports losses, biggest slump in China's mega bank since 2006

According to a new IDC report, 5G smartphones are expected to capture 50 per cent of the global market by 2023. 5G remains a priority for all smartphone companies despite the chAccording to a new International Data Corporation (IDC) report, 5G smartphones are expected to capture 50 per cent of the global market by 2023. 5G remains a priority for all smartphone companies despite the challenges with the Covid-19 pandemic and lack of consumer demand. Currently the 5G consumer demand is very low. allenges with the Covid-19 pandemic and lack of consumer demand. Currently the 5G consumer demand is very low.

5G smartphones to carry 50% of the global market by 2023

Mexico's Holbox Islands are struggling to keep their business afloat amid the Coronavirus Pandemic. Islands popularly known for their Whale, Shark tourism were shut for several months due to COVID-19. Almost no tourists visit Mexico's Islands these days.

Mexico's tourism industry takes a massive hit due to Coronavirus

Congress MP from Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari H Vasanthakumar has died due to Coronavirus. The 70-year old leader was admitted to Apollo Hospital in Chennai on August 10 with a Coronavirus infection.

Coronavirus Pandemic: Indian Congress MP H Vasanthakumar dies Of COVID-19 In Chennai

London Zoo has began an animal weigh-in with keepers keen to find out the impact of lockdown due to COVID-19. The two centuries old ZSL London zoo houses 19,000 animals, and due to the lockdown which was put in place across Britain, Zoo’s finances are not in good health.

Animal's vital statistics are being taken at London Zoo

Even though the World Health Organisation continues to issue warnings against mass gatherings, Wuhan, the first epicentre of COVID-19, turned a blind eye against these advisories and allowed large-scale pool parties.

Video of partying crowd in Wuhan during COVID-19 pandemic goes viral

A 25-year-old Reno man with mild COVID-19 symptoms initially was found to have the virus in April. He recovered and tested negative twice, and then tested positive again in June. He was much sicker the second time, with pneumonia that required hospitalisation and oxygen treatment.

US: Nevada man infected twice with COVID-19, HK researchers confirmed similar case

Due to coronavirus, 1,021 deaths have been resorded in 24 hours across India. Country's fatality rate dropped to 1.82% whereas recovery rate stands at over 76.28%.

India: 76,472 new COVID-19 cases in 24 hours

Ground Zero for the COVID-19 pandemic and the Chinese city, Wuhan will reopen 2,842 schools from tuesday. It advised students to wear masks to and from school and avoid public transportation if possible.

Coronavirus Pandemic: Schools to reopen in Wuhan, foreign students not allowed to return

The federal government released new guidelines saying that asymptomatic people, even those who have been in close contact of an infected person, should not necessarily go for testing. Whereas according to World Health Organisation (WHO), contacts of COVID-19 patients should also be tested regardless of symptoms.

COVID-19: CDC downplays importance of testing asymptomatic people whereas WHO recommends testing suspects

covid-19-pandemic

Covid 19 Pandemic, News on Covid 19 Pandemic, stories on Covid 19 Pandemic, articles on Covid 19 Pandemic, Covid 19 Pandemic stories at Wion, Covid 19 Pandemic news, Covid 19 Pandemic latest news

covid 19-pandemic