The latest confirmed cases in Singapore are as follows:
New cases: 3
Discharged today: 1
Total confirmed cases: 75
Total discharged: 9
Most in hospital are stable or improving. 5 remain in ICU (1 less than yesterday). Of the 3 new cases, 2 are linked to a known cluster and 1 is linked to a previous case. Our government has confirmed that COVID-19 is transmitted primarily through droplets and is more similar to H1N1, given its infectious nature like that of influenza but a far lower fatality rate than SARS. There is no plans or reason for the government to move to DORSCON red and there is currently no wide community spread.
Read: Coronavirus detection in Singapore ‘gold standard’ for case detection: Harvard study
Following the updates from our government, we are not sure when the number of cases will stop increasing given the infectiousness (albeit a lot less fatal than SARS) of COVID-19. We have received requests to postpone the event and we are preparing for contingency plans to postpone the events to the last weekend of May, 30th-31st May but we are NOT making the decision whether or not to postpone until latest 2nd March. While the health and safety of our participants remain our top priority, we must take into consideration of our participants who have invested in travel plans.
IF YOUR TEAM WILL BE AFFECTED IF EVENTS ARE POSTPONED TO 30 to 31 MAY
If your teams will be affected by the postponement (e.g. you have committed to flights and accommodations, or your team will not be able to attend the events in May), please reach out to us via email asiaopencheer@cheerleading.com.sg or casncc@cheerleading.org.sg (please do not reply to this email) by this Friday, 21st February.
For teams who are not affected by the postponement or in favour of the postponement, we seek your understanding and patience for the next 2 weeks before we make our announcement, while we attend to the affected teams.
To address some of the common questions raised in emails:
What are the procedures and costs involved in withdrawals?
For withdrawals, we will be extending our refund policy to 9th March. Any withdrawal requests from now to 9th March will be eligible for full competition refunds, less SGD25.00 administrative fee and bank fees (if applicable during the refund process).
What action would the event organizers take if one of the athletes contract COVID-19 from attending Asia Open + CASNCC 2020?
Firstly, if an athlete contract COVID-19 during the competition, symptoms are not likely to show until s/he has returned back to their home country. However, if it does happen, we will offer assistance and cooperate with the government to determine and contact clusters at risk. Participants are advised to purchase personal travel insurance as the competition fees do not include insurance coverage for the participants who gets injured or fall ill during the event.
Please stay safe in the meantime and if you have any queries, please feel free to contact us via email.