As Asia Panics, One Country Wins Praise for Approach to Virus

  • Singapore serves a model for other countries, say experts
  • PM Lee addressed the city in a video posted online Saturday
Coronavirus Strikes Heart of Singapore Financial District
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As governments in Asia struggle to reassure their populations over the coronavirus, public health experts say Singapore’s approach in communicating to the public is providing a model for others to reduce panic, rumors and conspiracy theories.

In a nine-minute recorded message on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said “fear can do more harm than the virus itself” amid reports of long lines and hoarding at local supermarkets. He then laid out steps residents can take to help prevent the spread of the virus, like exercising good hygiene, while assuring them that the city had enough supplies of enough goods.