Care-leh Dee

Care-leh Dee (pronounced Care Lady) was part of The Virus Vanguard, a team of five fictional superheroes introduced by Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information (now Ministry of Ministry of Digital Development and Information) on 20 April 2020 as part of the Gov.sg platform’s efforts to promote COVID-19 safety measures. Each character was designed to personify specific guidelines to combat the pandemic - Care-leh Dee encouraged the community to care for one another during the pandemic.

Gov.sg published a now-deleted backstory of Care-leh Dee:

Care-leh Dee uses empathy to absorb all negativity, or to send torrents of powerful emotions to her target. Not ordinary even in person, she is Diyana Amperthee, a female trillionaire philanthropist of unknown age.

Backstory: Diyana made her trillions from prudent investments and then decided to go for a year-long meditation experience in the remote mountains of Kathmandu. She got trapped during an avalanche and during the two-month ordeal, which she survived, she attained unusual enlightenment to become Care-leh Dee, having gained the ability to feel exactly what others around her feel.

Abilities: Able to make others feel better, and also understand how others feel through telepathy. Temporarily absorb negative energy and thoughts. Levitation.

Weakness: When she absorbs negative energy, she needs to meditate to purge it from her vessel otherwise it may harm or kill her.

Plans for the Virus Vanguard were shelved on the same day as its introduction due to severe backlash online. Some expressed concerns that the characters were confusing and potentially trivialized the severity of the pandemic. Three of the five superheroes courted controversy: MAWA Man (seen as disrespecting Liverpool Football Club), Circuit Breaker and Care-leh Dee (accusations of plagiarism).

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