Covid19 – Singapore tightens restrictions as various variants emerge overseas
Singapore announced tighter curbs on social gatherings and stricter border measures after recording locally acquired cases of coronavirus variants, including a more contagious strain first detected in India.
After reporting very few local infections for months, numbers have increased in the Asian trade and financial hub over the last week, mainly linked to an outbreak at a hospital. On Tuesday, it confirmed five new locally acquired cases.
The stricter measures, which will be effective from May 8, include extending checks on where incoming travellers have been to three weeks earlier, instead of two weeks currently.
Though Singapore’s daily cases are only a fraction of the number being reported among Singapore’s Southeast Asian neighbours, a jump in infections would be a setback for the Asian business hub, which has successfully contained its earlier outbreaks.
