re: #349 Hecuba’s daughter

Have mentioned this before: Weeks ago, the autocrat Lee Hsien Loong who runs Singapore was on Fareed Zakaria. He was very glum about the prospects of stopping this pandemic, and much of his dismay was due to the fact that the US, which historically has been a leader in fighting infectious diseases worldwide, has abandoned that role and there was no one to take up the mantle. If he were in charge of a large nation such as the US or China, I have no doubt this would be under control because he would have addressed this early and thoroughly.

My question is: why is the death rate so low in Singapore? 27 out of 55,000 cases? I don’t think that they would be lying about this, but it would seem consistent with different strains of the disease, some much more virulent than others. Or am I naive about whether this information is reliable in an autocracy, even one as well-run as Singapore, with leaders who are cosmopolitan, well-educated, and intelligent?