It is heartening that blood stocks here have increased to moderate levels after donors answered a call for donations last month. More than 10,000 donors across all blood groups stepped up - about 21 per cent of them were first-time donors and about 15 per cent were youth donors. The turnout led the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) and the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) to thank all donors who had come forward to donate blood in July following an appeal by the SRC for people with A+ and O+ blood types to donate because stocks of both types were running critically low. Singaporeans responded generously.

Short of sacrificing one's life, blood donation is perhaps the most biological of ways in which to display a spirit of solidarity with strangers. The human body cannot do without blood but it can spare enough of it for others for a while, while nature unfailingly regenerates the body of the donor. For those who recognise this logic, a single donation can lead to a lifelong habit.