Number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 exceeded 5 million as of May 21, 2020. Global average of the case fatality rate of COVID-19 is about 7% so far. There exist variations in case fatality rates among countries. Particularly, Singapore and Qatar have exceptionally low case fatality rates with 0.1% while France’s rate is almost 20%. Since no magic bullet treatment for COVID-19 exists, we investigated SARS-CoV-2 strains specific to Singapore in this study to identify a clade with low pathogenicity. Variant analysis revealed that a clade with variants ORF1ab L3606F, A4489V, S2015R, T2016K, and N P13L is common in Singapore. Based on our analysis of variants and historical case statistics, the clade is dominant in a recent surge. Therefore, we suggest that low case fatality rate of Singapore possibly is attributed to the clade. Although contribution of each variant to the low pathogenicity is not clear, L3606F alone does not accomplish such low pathogenicity from the comparison with case fatality data from Japan, where L3606F is dominant. Further investigation is necessary to conclude to validate this finding.

Background: COVID-19 booster uptake remained poor among healthcare workers (HCW) despite evidence of improved immunity against Delta and Omicron variants. While most studies used a questionnaire to assess hesitancy, this study aimed to identify factors affecting true booster hesitancy by examining actual vaccine uptake across time. Method: COVID-19 vaccination database records among HCW working at 7 Singaporean public primary care clinics between January to December 2021 were extracted, with gender, profession, place of practice, vaccination type and dates. Time to booster was calculated from the date of vaccination minus date of eligibility. Chi-square test was used to compare relationship between 1st dose and booster hesitancy, Kaplan-Meier method and Log-rank test were adopted to evaluate differences in cumulative booster uptake. Multivariate cox regression was used to investigate predictors for timely booster vaccination. Vaccination rate was charted across time and corroborated with media releases pertaining to legislative changes. Results: 877 of 891 (98.9%) primary care HCW were fully vaccinated, 73.8% of eligible HCW had taken the booster. HCW were less booster hesitant [median 16 (5-31.3) days] compared to the 1st dose [median 39 (13-119.3) days]. 1st dose hesitant HCW were more likely to be booster hesitant (OR=3.66, 95%CI 2.61-5.14). Adjusting for sex, workplace and time to 1st dose, ancillary (HR=1.53, 95%CI 1.03-2.28), medical (HR=1.8, 95%CI 1.18-2.74) and nursing (HR=1.8, 95%CI 1.18-2.37) received boosters earlier compared with administrative staff. No temporal relationship was observed between booster uptake, legislative changes and COVID-19 infection numbers. Conclusion: Vaccine hesitancy among HCW had improved from booster to 1st dose, with timely booster vaccination among medical and nursing staff. Tailored education, risk messaging and strategic legislation might help to reduce delayed booster vaccination.

The human capital index is a multivariate variable used to measure the assessment of human resource productivity in the future. Human capital has a connection with economic development. Moreover, the study looks to analyses the relationship between Human Capital and Economic Growth indicators such as HCI and GDP. Human Capital relates to the development of individual skills to make them function more profitable for the national economy. The study was aimed at investigating the effect of population, the number of people engaged and the average annual hours worked by engaged persons on the human capital index. The analysis was in SPSS for the findings. Correlation tests were used for analysis. The study revealed that population, the number of people engaged and the average annual hours worked by engaged persons had a significant positive effect on the human capital index.

Cultural ecosystem services has been increasingly influential in both environmental research and policy decision-making, such as for urban green spaces However, its popular definition conflates the concepts of ‘services’ and ‘benefits’ which made it challenging for planners to employ it directly for urban green space management. One the most widely used definition of this non-tangible ecosystem services are “functions of environmental spaces and cultural activities which may then result in the enjoyment of cultural ecosystem benefits”; yet the latter itself have never found its way into official laws and regulations. In this study, via a case study in Singapore, we propose new evidence to re-evaluate and re-position the two of the most important emerging concepts in managing the green spaces in urban areas. Using the transdisciplinary mixed methods of public participation GIS and social media text mining analysis, a wealth of cultural ecosystem services and their associated benefits were reported. This was especially so with regards to recreational and aesthetic services and experiential benefits. Recommendations to improve the park were also suggested, alongside sharing of methodological considerations for future research. Overall, this paper recommends the employment of the redefined cultural ecosystem services conceptual framework to generate relational, data-driven and actionable insights to better support urban green space management, which is not only useful to Singapore governments but also world-wide relevant.