32 new cases of COVID-19 infection in S’pore; 24 cases in the community

As of Thursday noon (13 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed an additional 32 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore.This brings the total number of infection cases to 61,451.There are 24 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection, of whom 18 are linked to previous cases."Amongst them, 14 had already been placed on quarantine earlier," said MOH."Based on our investigations so far, the cases are in the community, and there are no new cases in the dormitories."In addition, there are eight new imported cases, who had been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.The Ministry will share further updates in its press release tonight.

S’pore “effectively back” in Phase 2 as Govt tightens COVID-19 measures, says Minister Lawrence Wong

Singapore is “effectively back” in Phase 2, as the country takes stricter measures and restrictions to curb the local transmission of COVID-19, which will be set in place from 8 May to 30 May, said co-chair of Multi-Ministry Taskforce Lawrence Wong on 4 May.The new measures include the reduction of permissible group size in social gatherings, from eight persons to five persons..This also applies to households, which will be able to receive only five distinct visitors a day.In fact, more employees will be required to work from home, with only 50 per cent of employees who are able to work from home are allowed to return to the workplace.Other measures also include the closure of indoor gyms, testing requirements for worship services and cinemas with more than 100 attendees. Capacity will be reduced at attractions, libraries, tours, and MICE events.Speaking at the press conference on the new measures, Mr Wong noted that the new restrictions would mean that Singapore is “effectively back” at Phase two of its reopening, but he stressed that this is not a circuit breaker.“We certainly hope not to have to invoke another circuit breaker,” he said.“But we have proposed quite a stringent and tight set of measures, so that we can respond robustly and pre-emptively to the latest outbreak of clusters and do our best to snuff them out early, and reduce the likelihood of having to impose more drastic measures down the road.”