3 websites that visually track coronavirus cases in Singapore

Singapore’s ranked pretty high up on the list of countries with the most coronavirus cases, but that’s okay because even the World Health Organisation (WHO) is mad impressed with how the country’s dealing with the large number of infections.

"We are very impressed with the efforts they are making to find every case, follow up with contacts and stop transmission," said director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday (Feb 18). 

"Singapore is leaving no stone unturned, testing every case of influenza-like illness and pneumonia."

Nonetheless, one of the best ways to stay safe is to stay informed. And the best way to stay informed is with data — lots of it. 

Since the start of the outbreak last month, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has been quite diligent in keeping everyone updated about the unfolding coronavirus outbreak here. But if you prefer visual representations over wordy press releases, bookmark these three websites to keep track of the viral infection around our neck of the woods. 

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MOH: COVID-19 Situation Dashboard

You can't get any more accurate than the official dashboard produced by MOH and… Singapore Land Authority? In any case, the visuals here are pretty minimal, with crucial statistics like confirmed cases, hospitalised patients, and discharged cases plastered right at the top in large fonts.

What’s reassuring here are the graphs, which point to a steadily increasing trend of infections, accompanied by a steadily increasing number of discharged patients. There're also brief primers on each of the cases, like their age, places of residence, and areas where they visited. 

SG Wuhan

Offering easily digestible geographical data, SG Wuhan is an interactive map of Singapore with pinpointed locations of infected cases based on publicly available information from MOH. The site’s advisory declares that it is not affiliated with or endorsed by any government agency in any way. 

As clearly stated, the site should not be considered a chart of where people should avoid. Speaking to Business Insider, the map’s creator‚ a software engineer with an interest in data analytics, mentioned that his site is simply meant to convert official MOH updates into an easy-to-understand visual format. 

The highlight here? Clicking on each of the colour-coded points will show locations visited by the patient, marked by blue strands. 

Wuhanvirus.sg

This site’s not officially endorsed too, but it surely is the nicest-looking. With more pops of colour than both MOH’s dashboard and the SG Wuhan map, Wuhanvirus.sg offers visualisations in more aspects, including charts of coronavirus case nationalities, age and gender distribution, as well as infection clusters. There’s a map, too, that lets you play out the timeline of the outbreak and where the cases have emerged around the island. Cool, but pretty chilling to see the bloom of infections. 

Hit the site’s "Cases" section and you’ll find an interactive flowchart of the various outbreak clusters, including the Grace Assembly of God church, Yong Thai Hang health product store in Cavan Road, and the Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site. You can tell that a lot of effort has been put into the entire portal. Top marks for aesthetics too. 

(BONUS) CovidSG.com

A late addition to the list, but we thought this would be a great dashboard to bookmark as well. Created by Gangeshwar Krishnamurthy — a research engineer at ASTAR’s Artificial Intelligence Initiative — his dashboard provides more information beyond just mere numbers. Covidsg.com collates the latest coronavirus-related news by various publications and updates the feed as articles get published. Other resources such as debunked rumours, videos by official authorities, and where to donate funds are included in the site as well. 

 

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

ilyas@asiaone.com