Influenza A(H1N1) in Singapore – how did you find out?

The Strait Times reports that Singapore’s first confirmed case of H1N1 was brought in by a Singaporean on 26 May 2009: 6.30am who was aboard an SQ25 flight from New York .

“The ministry [of Health; see article below] asked passengers who had been seated in rows 52 to 58 on the same flight to call its hotline on 1800-333 9999, so that its officers can check on their health condition.”

I found out after returning to the office at 2.30pm. TweetDeck was chattering away when I turned on the monitor, despite following a limited number of active twitterers. I told the only office mate who was around and he was surprised and interested but not shocked, since this has long been regarded as inevitable.

When I scrolled down my Twitter feed later, I saw that the news had been reported before 10.50am by three friends. The first, Lucian, cited the complete Channel News Asia URL which is the good thing to do in such cases, rather than using a shortened URL service.

The twitterer in charge of @FluSingapore probably chose the wrong time to go to the bathroom, for by 11.11am, @tinkertailor was urging a response. Well, they kicked in just a minute later (real time is demanding, isn’t it?), citing the relevant Straits Times breaking news article.

At 11:17am, @FluSingapore twittered the request for fellow-passengers on the SQ25 flight to call MOH. Retweeting (on my list) began by 11.21am (BenKoe) and was quite well taken up by others. The people I follow avoid crying wolf, so a credible source, in this case the @FluSingapore tweet, was important for them to confidently pass on the news.

At some point, the Channel NewsAsia site went down and verification with them was not possible (still down at 4.00pm). So I cited Straits Times for the “obligatory” public service announcement, which was useful for friends who just came online. Others would also pick it up via the twitter to facebook status update.

At 11.43am, @FluSingapore said, “Thank you everyone for the RTs! Apologies for being slightly late in breaking the news.” Nice response, I thought.

There was a minor flurry on my twitter list about the news after 1pm, probably when some people I follow came back from lunch and were relaxing by reading tweets (instead of rss these days, I suppose). That burst of tweets pretty much died out by 3pm.

Here at the office I have a search turned on to “Singapore” on TweetDeck and the news was still intermittent at 4.15pm. By now, some were citing Reuters.

Interesting question – how many of us checked or referred to the MOH site? Ultimate source of news and a useful site to check with before forwarding messages on.

So twitterers can play a complimentary role in information dissemination during a health crisis. Authorities just need to seed this pool with a short tweet for convenient retweeting – people stuck behind a terminal are practically a communications task force. News like this fades quickly so late-comers play an important role by keeping the news alive. Channel News Asia’s IT department needs to be better prepared – their site finally recovered at about 4.30pm!

H1N1 FLU OUTBREAK -
“S’pore reports 1st flu case,” by Lee Hui Chieh. The Straits Times, 27 May 2009.

“SINGAPORE has reported its first patient infected with the new A(H1N1) flu strain.
The patient, a 22-year-old Singaporean woman, had been in New York from May 14 to 24, and arrived here on Tuesday morning.

While seated in row 55 on Singapore Airlines flight SQ25, she began to develop a cough, but she passed the thermal scanner at the airport later without being stopped, because she did not have a fever at the time.

Later that morning, she went to a general practitioner who decided to send her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital via the special ambulance service 993 meant for suspected Influenza A (H1N1) cases.

Laboratory test confirmed her infection at midnight on Tuesday.

The patient is being treated at the TTH Communicable Disease Centre and is in stable condition.

The Health Ministry said the patient has been vigilant in monitoring her condition and had sought immediate medical attention once she realised she was unwell.

“Her attending GP, through his quick response in activating the 993 ambulance for the patient, had also helped to minimise the spread of infection from this case,” said a ministry statement.

The Health Ministry has begun contact tracing of those who have been in close contact with the patient.

They will be quarantined and given antivirals to prevent them from developing the disease.

The ministry asked passengers who had been seated in rows 52 to 58 on the same flight to call its hotline on 1800-333 9999, so that its officers can check on their health condition.

The Ministry has reminded all medical practitioners and healthcare institutions to continue to be vigilant to suspect cases.

Temperature screening for passengers entering Singapore at all checkpoints – land, sea and air – will continue.

All passengers passing through or entering Singapore are given Health Alert Notices on board their flights, advising them to monitor their own health if they have been to affected areas and to seek medical attention immediately if they are not well.”