O-Level exam papers may be rescheduled if the 24-hour PSI forecast reaches hazardous levels, said Education Minister Desmond Lee

A-Level exams are less likely to be affected as students are older, but decisions will also depend on haze forecasts and actual ground conditions.

Mr Lee added that students who are unwell and unable to take or continue an exam should obtain a medical certificate and apply for special consideration through their schools.

To all those claiming Malaysia “doing more”. It’s the same. At least we don’t make a jackhole of noise pretending to do something.

We can try to boycott. Sure. More importantly is that we write in to our fucking MPs to demand that they make noise in parliament. Get Vivian to do some workX

🌻☀️Good morning all have a great day and stay strong, stay safe and stay healthy! Jiayou!

Talk about your day. Anything goes, but subreddit rules still apply. Please be polite to each other!

OBU 2.0

Banning plastic straws

Charging for plastic bags (not just supermarkets doing this, but retail following suit)

BCRS

COE increase

Public transport fare hike

Nutri-Grade (lots of drinks I loved became glorified cold water just to become Nutri-Grade B, and I rarely drink sweet drinks that aren't zero sugar)

Can you think of any more?

Edit:

BTO

Mandatory tray return at hawker centres

Right now, the official policy is that schools will CONSIDER close when the 24-hour rolling PSI hits 300 (Hazardous).

To put that into perspective, a PSI of 300 requires a 24-hour average PM2.5 concentration of 250 µg/m³. Sudden spike of PM2.5 concentration of 300 in the morning will not show PSI 300. The WHO safety guideline for daily exposure is 15 µg/m³.

By the time the government still considering to close schools, our children will have already been breathing in toxins, highly concentrated PM2.5 for days.

Currently, school were asked to turn on portable air purifiers inside classroom. All primary and secondary classrooms rely on natural ventilation (NO air conditioning). If you keep windows open, air purifiers do not work properly, according to NEA own guideline. If you keep windows closed, 35 students are packed inside classroom fighting for oxygen.

In Malaysia, schools are legally mandated to close nationwide the moment the 24-hour API hits 200, which corresponds to a PM2.5 level of roughly 150 µg/m³. Singapore waits until the air is nearly twice as toxic (average of roughly 250 µg/m³) to take the same action.

Children breathe faster than adults, their organs are still developing and hence they face higher chances of permanent damage to respiratory, cardiovascular system and brain development issues from prolonged PM2.5 exposure.

Not to mention some students who commute to school daily by walking or public transport and teachers forced to be working in unsafe environment.

Why can’t we do better to protect the children? Air purifiers inside a natural ventilated classroom is more of placebo effect than safety protocol.

According to MOH advisory excerpt

"N95 masks (or equivalent) are also not needed in an indoor environment"

They do not mention anything about air flow, or indoor conditions. It is just a general statement of being indoors.

This is misleading without specifying what conditions are considered "indoors". I can imagine some folks will just keep their windows open, fully ventilated and stay home (I'm in my house = indoors right?).

It is such a bad generalization of conditions that will give a false sense of security for the uninformed, especially older folks who are the most vulnerable group.

If I am indoors, in an enclosed space and the air is being cleaned with a purifier and the clean air is trapped indoors, then it is a different story. The enclosed area results in a pressure equilibrium which results in a very low amount of fluid (air) exchanged through gaps and openings, leading to lower particle accumulation.

P.s. I would just like to give kudos to NEA, they have provided the right advisory regarding this.

"Separately, the National Environment Agency (NEA) advises households to close doors and windows when outdoor air quality worsens to slow the entry of haze particles, and to reopen them when conditions improve."

- Source: CNA

TLDR: being indoors doesn't inherently mean you are safe from the negative health effects of haze. Air quality is not simply about indoors/outdoors. Specific conditions matters alot; NEA did a good job in imparting knowledge that our ministry MOH didn't

*There is still a risk of damage to the sensor.

Few days back I saw someone posted, didn't quite believe it was possible. Yesterday a photography friend posted what he shot using an iPhone. So today I saw the opportunity and tried. Really can see sun spot (basically it's the "colder or cooler" part of the sun hence they appeared black) . Used to be astronomy club in my poly days We had to setup telescope with sun filters back then. Guess I can "Thank" Indonesia for the "inbuilt" filter.

Two Singapore-listed palm oil companies, Bumitama Agri and First Resources, have been linked to plantation areas in Indonesia where fires and smoke were detected, according to an investigation by environmental group Greenpeace.

Another privately held company, First Borneo Plantations, which has ownership links to Singapore-incorporated companies, was also named in the Oct 5 report.

Singapore General Hospital Pte. Ltd. (SGH) has cut the time needed to report suspected brain bleeding on CT scans to less than 30 minutes from as long as an hour using artificial intelligence (AI), letting doctors make treatment decisions sooner.

“Radiologists can now complete reporting in under 30 minutes, compared with 30 minutes to an hour without AI,” Sarat Kumar Sanamandra, a senior consultant in the Department of Neuroradiology at SGH and the National Neuroscience Institute, said in an emailed reply to questions.