49 New COVD-19 Cases in S’pore Today (24 Mar); New Measures That Sound Like Lockdown to be Implemented

The number of new COVID-19 cases has continued to spike, and lest you’re not aware, it’s at least a good sign that we’re still flattening the curve:

With today’s announcement, MOH is also implementing new measures to further flatten the curve.

Here’s today’s announcement.

49 New COVD-19 Cases in S’pore Today (24 Mar); 32 Are Imported With Most From the UK

In total, 49 cases were reported today, and 32 of them are imported, with most of them from the UK.

You can read this article on why the UK is considered a high-risk country due to the decisions they’ve made earlier.

The other imported cases have all been to the US, Malaysia, France, Indonesia and Australia.

For the 17 local cases, 4 are linked to previously confirmed cases, while 13 are still unlinked.

With so many imported and local cases, the authorities have come out with even more measures to flatten the curve.

More Measures to be Implemented

For a start, you’d realise that travellers from the UK (and now, the US as well) have higher risk of being infected, so people who’ve been to these two regions will fulfil their 14-day Stay-Home Notice in dedicated facilities (hotels), whereby they’ll be transported direct from the airport to the hotels. In other words, they are kind of in quarantine instead of being forced to stay at home.

This will take effect for people who are coming back from these two regions from 25 March 2020, 11:59pm. For UK/US returnees who are now serving their SHN at home, they can also apply to stay in the hotels—I mean, dedicated facilities for their Stay-Hotel Notice.

Other than that, these are the other new measures, which will start from 26 March, 11:59pm and expected to end by 30 April 2020:

• Closure of all bars and entertainment venues whereby people have to be in close contact for a long time, including places like cinemas or KTV
• Groups to be less than 10 people, including dining places
• Tuition and enrichment classes to be suspended
• All religious services and congregations will be suspended
• All events to be cancelled even if there are less than 250 people
• Suspension of activities for seniors to 30 April 2020

Yes, it’s still not a lockdown, but I can surely feel it just by writing those measures.

Updates on Current Cases

All in all, the total number of cases in Singapore is now at 558.

156 of them have recovered while 17 are now in ICU. 2 have passed away.

You can do your part as a responsible citizen through helping out in contact tracing by downloading the TraceTogether app.

In the meantime, keep yourself updated by bookmarking MOH’s website here and registering for the Gov.sg’s WhatsApp service here.