Coronavirus Singapore: tighter restrictions reimposed after surge in local cases

Singapore on Thursday reported 24 new local cases of Covid-19, the highest number since July last year

Authorities have banned dining in at restaurants and restricted gatherings to two people, while urging employees to work from home

Reading Time:3 minutes

Singaporean office workers have been urged to work from home due to a surge in local Covid-19 cases. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:06pm, 14 May 2021Updated: 11:05pm, 14 May 2021

Singapore on Friday announced further tightening of social distancing measures to combat an increased number of local Covid-19 cases, reimposing bans on dining at restaurants, urging people to work from home and restricting gatherings to two people rather than five.

Singapore on Thursday reported 24 new local cases of Covid-19, the highest number since July last year, and another 24 infections on Friday. Singapore now has 12 active clusters and has already recorded 136 domestic infections this month, compared to 55 cases in April and just nine in March.

Health minister Gan Kim Yong said it was “almost impossible” to completely eradicate the virus and “we will have to learn to live with it”.

The latest measures will take effect on Sunday and will last for four weeks until June 13. Authorities last week limited social gatherings to five people from the previous cap of eight but the increase in local cases has led to even more stringent restrictions after higher rates of transmission in recent clusters where the people infected did not wear masks.

Gan on Friday said 15 unlinked cases in the past week were cause for concern as they suggested there were further undetected cases in the community.

Authorities have also in recent weeks detected several variants of concern in both local and imported infections, such as the B. 1.617 strain that was first identified in India and is thought to be more transmissible.