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BEIJING – A headless dog the image of the new rules of social distancing to Singapore. A robot was unleashed in the city’s central state park to encourage people to maintain responsible behavior at the time of the coronavirus. The robot does not bark, but from its metallic body that advances noisily with disturbing noises, the blocking rules are repeated. Because even Singapore, which was praised, envied, and modeled for its ability to contain the spread of the coronavirus at the start of the pandemic, had to adopt blockade measures that will last until June 1.
The number of deaths
The number of deaths remains very low: 20 out of a population of 5.6 million inhabitants; but the total number of infections reached 22,460, currently the highest in Southeast Asia. The first coronavirus patient was seen in Singapore on January 23, the same day that China admitted to the dire severity of her situation and quarantined Wuhan. Singapore has important contacts with China and immediately took the precautions of its health system as a first world country, experienced in the days of Sars. It took 13 weeks to reach 10,000 infections in the city in late April; but in the last two weeks the number has doubled. The hidden bomb (or rather, the one that local health authorities have not considered) represented by the large community of low-wage migrant workers: more than 300,000, who run works and construction services more humble than the economic tiger. On Saturday, 753 new cases of coronavirus were identified: only 9 are Singapore citizens, the rest are foreign workers. People who spend all day at work and in their spare time live in crowds in dormitories on the outskirts of the city that they have helped build.
Structures for migrants.
There are around forty structures with beds for migrants: the largest agglomeration of dormitories, identified as S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, represents 22% of all cases in Singapore. Authorities surveyed 19,000 cases in all of the city’s dorms, unhealthy environments even in normal times: A 2015 survey found that one room was shared by 12 people. The 19,000 infected represent 6% of the legion of 300,000 migrants and the vast majority of infections in the city. Thousands of workers have been laid off and concentrated in floating dormitories, sports areas and free social housing. To make migrants even more invisible, authorities target Singapore citizens with passports and the expat tribe, foreigners working in finance and high technology. People used to socialize when they left the office: pubs and nightclubs are as widespread as in London. And here is the robotic headless dog sent on patrol to the central park (which was obsessively cared for by cheap labor from abroad). The metal dog equipped with cameras. Take long shot scenes to report any meetings to the police.
The dog with the female voice
The headless quadruped has a feminine voice to broadcast the security warning asking visitors to the green area to stay at least a meter away for the good of all. The authorities assure that Spot (this is the name of the robot) does not store images of the faces of those who violated the rules of social distancing. But there have been controversies. Glenn Greenwald, an American investigative journalist who specializes in intelligence systems investigation, released a video of the headless dog with this comment: One of the most horrifying and dystopian things I’ve ever seen.
May 10, 2020 (change May 10, 2020 | 12:00)
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