Today’s positivity quote is from the Queen of All Media, Oprah Winfrey which is all about having a positive attitude and how this will translate their lives. A good attitude is the key to ensuring your outlook in life is a forward facing one and this in turn will help an individual achieve the successes in life they want, be it personal, professional or even within the community.

The Tokyo Olympics are now ongoing and India has had a dream run there. Both hockey teams, Men and Women did very well, with the Men’s team getting the bronze and the Women’s team losing to Great Britain narrowly in the play-offs for the bronze. I was so looking forward to a gold from India and to see the tricolour rise up as the national anthem plays. I experienced this five years back at the Rio Olympics. It was a Saturday morning and I was at my doctor to get medicines. While waiting to pay the money, the TV started showing Joseph Schooling’s 100 meter butterfly event and the entire doctor’s office waited in bated breath to see if Schooling will make it to the podium. And when he came first, we all erupted in joy and cheer. I quickly paid the money and rushed home because I wanted to see the medal ceremony and when the Singapore flag was raised and the Majulah Singapura tune was played, I got goosebumps! And just I was typing this, we heard that India’s Neeraj Chopra took the gold for the men’s Javelin throw. And when S called me for the medal ceremony, I had that same rush of pride when I heard the strains of the Indian National anthem, Jana Gana Mana played.

In Singapore, 78% of the population have received at least 1 dose while 65% of the population have completed the full regimen. In Singapore, many vaccination centres have now a walk-in policy so anyone who is not yet vaccinated can just walk in and have it done. We are also preparing to get on with life with COVID as the country opens up its economy and moves towards treating the virus as endemic. Restrictions are slowly being eased, especially for those who are fully vaccinated and the hope is that by the end of the year, life will become a bit more normal, albeit a life having to live with the virus. A lot of other countries are also pushing for their citizens to become fully vaccinated with some like Pakistan using the carrot and stick approach where those who are not vaccinated and especially working for the government having salaries withheld and others having phone sim cards blocked and even not being allowed to leave the country. This may be a good approach, especially for those countries which have a lot of resistance to vaccination.

Singapore has been consistently reporting high double digit and low triple digits for the past few weeks, though we can see a declining trend. But and not in a good way, we have had a few deaths this week taking our death toll to 40. Almost every single person who passed away was unvaccinated and elderly, so to those who are on the fence, or have elderly and vulnerable at home who have vaccine hesitancy, just look at the numbers not only in your own country, but also elsewhere.

That’s all for this week. Some news was good while the others were not so good, but we’re all in here for the long haul and the sooner we have the upper hand on this virus, we faster we can move on and get our lives, which has been paused for almost two years now. Take care and talk soon!