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Associate Professor Helena Legido-Quigley was recently appointed Editor-in-Chief of Elsevier’s new Journal of Migration and Health, and was profiled in The Lancet last week, focusing on her work in health systems and passion for global health. “This is incredibly exciting for me, as the health of migrants is my passion, and no other journal has its main focus on this important component of global health,” she said. She commented on Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak earlier this year: “It was striking how well Singapore was prepared, a legacy from

Earlier this week, the multi-ministry taskforce announced a three-phase transition to a ‘new normal’, as the next step in Singapore’s fight against COVID-19. As Singapore exits its ‘circuit breaker’ on 2 June, schools will reopen progressively and a third of the workforce will return to their workplaces. Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying said that the phased transition “is a very prudent approach” as it allows us to determine which sector is contributing to any resurgence in cases. “We are testing to see what works and what doesn’t, and if we

Over the past week, an average of 700 cases were reported daily that were linked to foreign worker dormitories. Even as the number of dormitory-linked cases continues to rise, Vice Dean (Research), Associate Professor Alex Cook said the situation is better than originally expected and “the number of cases is consistently lower in reality than what the models say it should have been”. He said that this could be interpreted either pessimistically, that not all cases are detected yet due to a lack of capacity, or optimistically, that the curve

Governments around the world are beginning to ease restrictions as the virus shows signs of slowing down. There are discussions in a number of countries about the use of ‘immunity certificates’ that would allow people to show they have antibodies to the disease and are therefore allowed to work or travel. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has cautioned against such measures. “There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection,” WHO said. Assistant Professor Hannah Clapham commented

On 21 April, the government announced the extension of Singapore’s ‘circuit breaker’ measures to 1 June. While there are encouraging signs that the measures have been effective so far, Dean, Professor Teo Yik Ying said that the numbers of new cases have not fallen as quickly as expected. He added that after more than two weeks, the number of new cases in the community should have been lower. “This really points to some ‘leakages’ happening in the community, either amongst people who are supposed to be home but have been