Sars.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

A mountain of homework.

What a fantastic concoction.

Six people dead.

One hundred and three confirmed Sars patients.

Fourteen in intensive care.

Twenty five warded in hospital.

Somehow, I can't really feel anything. Anything at all. Odd, isn't it? I don't know...

In all seriousness, China should have warned the World Health Organisation when it confirmed its first patient, that way, the Sars outbreak wouldn't have reached the severe stage its at now. The streets are almost empty, devoid of people. Businesses have reported drops in the number of customers they receive. Suddenly, drug stores and medicinal herb shops are finding their medicines in welcome demand, shops selling masks have been freed of their burden, Orchard road has turned into a miniature ghost town. Singapore has become a ghost country. Schools have been closed, and have been, presumably, disinfected and cleaned.

'A cloud of fear and suspicion hung over Singapore.'

--Understanding Our Past, a history textbook.

Maybe not of fear and suspicion precisely, but one of fear anyhow. If the person standing next to you were to cough, wouldn't you move away, or make a concious effort to move further away from that person? If that same person sniffed or sneezed, would you move away? You probably would. In fact, everyone around him would probably form a little circle around him, to prevent themselves from 'becoming infected with the virus.' It would be more accurate to say that a cloud of fear and paranoia hung over Singapore. What if one of your family members was a nurse or doctor working at the Singapore General Hospital or Tan Tock Seng Hospital? If they came home one day, and coughed, wouldn't you be alarmed? Just by the simple act of coughing, in your mind, you have probably already labelled them as a 'Sars suspect.' Not that I blame you. Of course, being naturally human, we fear for our own well-being, and the Singapore government has done quite alot to break the chain. Firstly, TTSH (Tan Tock Seng Hospital) has placed itself off-limits to those who are not suffering from Sars so that they can better treat Sars patients, and schools up to Junior College have been closed until April the 14th.

But, you ask, what about schools above Junior College? Do you mean, as one student put it aptly, that they 'are not as important'? Just because they are older does not mean that they are more immune to the virus that those below Junior College level! Just because they're older, and maybe understand the virus and the complications better, does not mean the MOE should not close those institutions!

Now, of course, there is news that two other hospitals, NUH (National University Hospital) and SGH (Singapore General Hospital) have also been labelled as 'infected areas'. I find the NUH case exceedingly absurd. A woman who was a suspect broke the quarantine laws and came to the hospital in a car! With the rest of her family in tow! In doing so, she has probably infected the rest of her family with Sars, and now, has brought NUH all the more problems. She should have gone in an ambulance, as this would reduce the chances of having the virus spread to more people. This just shows, how, with one wrong step, one wrong action, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can spark off a new chain of infections.

Just like in Hong Kong, in Hotel Metropole. Professor Liu Jianlun had showed syptoms of Sars, but carried the disease from Guangdong where he was treating patients, to Hong Kong when he came back to visit family members. All those living on the same floor as him, the ninth floor, were also infected. Since the incident, twelve other guests have also been infected, and one family member has died. Oh, the Professor has also died. The disease was then passed on to Singapore.

Now, the Ministry of Health and Education are tearing their hair out trying to stop the virus, and the rest of us are to stay at home.

Did I mention, we also have to complete a montrous pile of homework that looks as though it's come straight out of our nightmares? This same pile of homework has me writing away like some manual typwriter or crazy modern-day, inspiration-struck Shakspeare, and it looks as though our teachers have all gone mad, as the Everest mound of homework keeps threatening to tip and flood Singapore with paper if we don't finish it.

Of course, that last sentence was a joke.

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