Coronavirus: Singapore sees highest local cases in months; Philippines extends lockdown
- Thursday’s 16 infections add to a recent surge in community cases in the city state, which had the virus largely under control in the past months
- Elsewhere, at least eight provinces in Thailand have declared a nighttime curfew, as Vietnam warns the threat of a new infection spike is ‘very high’
The health ministry said seven of these infections were family members of an earlier case involving a 38-year-old Singaporean who works as an immigration officer.
Eight cases were linked to an emerging cluster at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where a nurse tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Authorities said the affected ward had been locked down and that patients there were being swabbed and isolated.
Staff at the hospital will also be tested, the health ministry said, adding that visitors will not be allowed into the wards.
Thursday’s spike adds to a recent surge in community cases in the city state, which had the virus largely under control in the past months. Singapore has logged 46 local infections so far in April, compared to just nine for the whole of March.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, the co-chair of the republic’s virus task force, last week said Singapore was on “heightened alert”.
Under the announced rules, the scheme would be suspended if the seven-day moving average of unlinked infections in either city is more than five, among other mechanisms.
Mayors, however, cut a nine-hour night curfew in Metropolitan Manila to six hours to help battered businesses.
Duterte warned mayors and village chiefs that they face jail if they do not prevent gatherings and other events that violate the pandemic restrictions.
“There will always be a rise … [in Covid-19 cases] if we don’t follow the law,” Duterte said. “This is not only a medical issue. It is now of national interest and maybe the survival of the Filipinos.”
Philippines could face India-like Covid-19 surge, doctor warns
The Department of Health reported 6,895 additional Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, pushing the country’s total caseload to 1,020,495. The death toll was up by 115, to 17,031, it added.
While the daily totals have declined since March 29, when the new lockdown was imposed, health experts have called for an extension of community quarantine to allow the numbers of stabilise.
There have been delays in the delivery of vaccines in the country, where only 1.5 million Filipinos have been given shots since the vaccination drive was launched at the start of March. The government has said it aims to inoculate up to 70 million people by the end of the year.
01:04
‘If you want me to die early, you must pray harder’, says Duterte on speculation about his health
The country has tightened curbs, closed schools and stepped up quarantine measures as it seeks to avoid a full lockdown that would jeopardise economic recovery and the reopening of its borders to tourists.
Indians flee for US, charter jets to UAE to escape Covid-19 crisis
The lockdown measures prohibit all businesses and services except the essential ones from operating and restrict unnecessary public movement in all three districts of the valley – Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur – according to Nepal Police spokesperson Basanta Bahadur Kunwar.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Nepal has reached 312,699, with 30,209 active cases and 3,211 confirmed deaths as of Wednesday. The virus has also been detected at the Everest base camp where hundreds of climbers are waiting for the final ascent of the world’s tallest peak.
Authorities reclassified Bangkok and five provinces as highest-controlled zones. There are 46 others with broad restrictions after a third Covid-19 wave that has seen more than half of the country’s overall infections this month alone.
Masks are widely worn in Thailand but the order to make them mandatory comes just a few days after Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha was fined US$190 for failing to wear one during a meeting.
Parks, gyms, cinemas, bars, restaurants, day-care centres and schools have been closed in Bangkok, the outbreak epicentre, and non-essential travel from the capital is being discouraged.
The country on Tuesday reported its first domestic virus case since March 25, after a hotel worker tested positive following contact with 11 quarantined visitors from India.
In Malaysia, Communications Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said on Thursday he had tested positive for the coronavirus, as the country’s health authorities reported over 3,000 new cases for the second day in a row.
Apologising “for the inconvenience caused,” Saifuddin said he will quarantine at home while awaiting admission to a Covid-19 hospital, but “will continue to monitor and ensure that all the affairs of the ministry run smoothly.”
Saifuddin’s was among over 3,330 new cases announced by the Ministry of Health on Thursday, after over 3,100 infections were reported on Wednesday.
Reporting by Dewey Sim, Associated Press, DPA, Bloomberg
