I appreciate the decision taken by the Minister for Health in reducing the alert level for Influenza A. It is a bold decision to recognise that the threat is not serious, at least based on the information that is available now.
There is still a small risk that things can turn worse. When that happens, it will be appropriate to raise the alert level. I hope that this will come to pass, similar to other health concerns that have surfaced in recent years.
We do have many big challenges to worry about, such as restoring the health of the global economy. We should not divert our attention to other matters that are not serious at this time.
Someone mentioned that Influenza A could be a black swan event. Really? There are other black swan events that could occur, such as an earthquake, terrorist attack or nuclear explosion.
Tan Kin Lian
