SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 120 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday (Apr 5), the biggest daily increase since the outbreak began here in January, bringing the national total to 1,309.
Four of the new cases are imported and the remaining cases are locally transmitted.
AdvertisementAdvertisementA "significant number" of the new cases are linked to existing clusters involving two workers' dormitories, S11 Dormitory @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan, said the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force in a press conference.
S11 Dormitory @ Punggol has 22 new cases and Westlite Toh Guan has 10 new cases.
2 DORMS GAZETTED AS ISOLATION AREAS
Given these figures, the Ministry of Health has gazetted the two dormitories as isolation areas.
AdvertisementAdvertisementA total of 19,800 workers across the two dormitories have been placed under quarantine and will have to stay in their rooms for the next 14 days.
Meals will be provided for the workers, as well as healthcare supplies including masks, thermometers and hand sanitiser, said the task force.
Further safe distancing measures will also be implemented at all other worker dormitories, including staggering of meal times and minimising the inter-mingling of workers.
However it should be made clear that foreign workers do not inherently have a higher risk of contracting COVID-19, said Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong.
"It's not an issue of targeting a particular group, they are not of higher risk," said Mr Wong.
"The issue we have here is foreign worker dorms have now emerged as a cluster of infection, a new vector for transmission, despite the precautions we have taken."
Meanwhile the authorities are readying the Singapore Expo as a community care facility, according to Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.
"The Singapore Expo is being prepared as the next community care facility," he told reporters.
These facilities are meant for housing patients who have more or less recovered but who could still be infectious, he added.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19: Singapore makes 'decisive move' to close most workplaces and impose full home-based learning for schools, says PM Lee[/h]Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had on Friday announced heightened safe distancing measures to act as a “circuit breaker” to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Under the enhanced measures which will kick in next week, schools and workplaces – except those running essential services – will be closed for nearly a month until May 4. Food establishments will stay open only for takeaways or delivery.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19: Heng Swee Keat to announce third round of support measures in new 'Solidarity Budget'[/h]Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Sunday a third round of support measures will be rolled out to help businesses and households tide through these unprecedented “circuit breaker” measures.
The “Solidarity Budget” will be announced when Parliament sits on Monday and comes less than two weeks after Mr Heng unveiled a record-breaking S$48 billion supplementary Budget.
[h=3]BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments[/h]Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
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