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”.