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

As of Saturday noon (14 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed an additional 31 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore.

This brings the total number of infection cases to 61,536.

19 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection, of whom 17 are linked to previous cases, and 2 are currently unlinked.

Amongst them, 11 had already been placed on quarantine earlier.

“Based on our investigations so far, the cases are in the community, and there are no new cases in the dormitories.” said MOH.

In addition, there are 12 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore. Of these, 7 are returning Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents.

The Ministry will share further updates in its press release tonight.

Stricter measures introduced by the Government following persistent pattern of local unlinked community cases

Stricter measures on COVID-19 social distancing have also been announced, which will take effect from Sunday (16 May) till 13 June 2021.

These measures include limiting group size from five to two, and ceasing option to dine-in at F&B outlets.

Work from home arrangement will also be default.

Additionally, each household can only receive two distinct visitors per day.

Meanwhile, wedding receptions will not be allowed other than solemnisations, and the cap for attendees at funerals will be reduced to 20 to all days.

More details can be found in the MOH’s press release.

Speaking at a virtual press conference, Education Minister Lawrence Wong noted that the stricter measures are needed because many members of the public would have visited Changi Airport in the last few weeks, with some subsequently becoming infected.

Echoing the similar sentiment, the MOH said in its press release that “a pattern of local unlinked community cases has emerged and is persisting”.

“This is worrying as it suggests that there may be unknown cases in the community with possible ongoing community transmission and that our earlier and ongoing measures to break the chains of transmissions may be insufficient,” the Ministry wrote.

“We need to act decisively to contain these risks as any one leak could result in an uncontrolled resurgence of cases. Hence we will move to impose targeted restrictions on higher risk settings such as those where there is a high density of people who are unmasked for prolonged periods.”