THE move to raise the outbreak alert level for H1N1 flu from yellow to orange last Thursday was the right decision, even if many may have felt that the Government reacted too quickly, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

'You have to be very quick because if your public health measures are to be of any effect. It must be quick, it must be overreacting, it must not under-react,' said Mr Khaw at a media briefing to update the flu situation in Singapore on Wednesday.

SINGAPORE'S economy has become even more open over the past 10 years, making it the most vulnerable among the Asian economies to a global slowdown.

But this openness will mean a quicker rebound when a global recovery kicks in, Monetary Authority of Singapore's deputy managing director Ong Chong Tee told a business seminar on Wednesday.

SINGAPORE will lower the H1N1 pandemic alert level from orange to yellow next Monday amid growing world consensus that the H1N1 virus is milder than originally feared.

The expected change will ease some measures put in place since the nation went into orange alert last Thursday.

CIVIL servants should show understanding, empathy and sensitivity for those who are going through tough times during the economic downturn.

This call urging those in the public service to make a difference came from Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean on Wednesday.