I get this feeling more and more recently that with COVID, we take two steps forward and then three steps backwards! After weeks of low case counts and some days of zero cases, there suddenly erupted a new cluster involving some KTV lounges. A KTV lounge for the uninitiated is a kind of nightclub with karaoke machines and hostesses. The cluster now has grown to more than 88 cases. And here we were thinking that the end is not that far away.

On the other side, Indonesia has emerged as Asia’s hotspot with more than 50,000 cases in a single day displacing India from the position. The super contagious Delta variant is what is wreaking havoc in the archipelago. The Delta variant has now been declared the most dominant strain worldwide having been detected around 100 countries across the world. There are now more than 190 million cases worldwide.

On the other hand, vaccine hesitancy is a real thing with many, even in Singapore, hesitating for various reasons to get vaccinated. Only about a quarter of the world’s population has been vaccinated with at least one dose, while it is less than 7% in India. In Singapore about 70% of the resident population has had at least one dose of the vaccine and about 43% are fully vaccinated. The sooner we all get vaccinated, the better equipped we are to face the uncertainties and life can move on to some sense of normality.

This week was the pretty much the same as last week and the one before that and will probably be similar to the next week. The children are busy with school work and project submissions. Their third semester will end in a couple of months and that’s the halfway point of their poly life, which was spent in home-based learning. This is a sore point with GG as she feels that her experience of poly life has been spoilt because of the pandemic. BB goes to school more than her because of lab and she is very sore about that.

This week’s quote asks us to surround ourselves with those who see the goodness in yourself, so even if you don’t believe in yourself, you have a posse who do and will do their best to boost you up.

That’s all from me for this week, have a great week people and as always, stay safe and stay vaccinated.