Singapore’s Health Ministry on Tuesday announced a range of new restrictions aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus, with entertainment venues such as bars, cinemas, theatres and nightclubs to be shut until April 30.
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The measures were announced as the ministry reported that 49 more people were diagnosed with Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus. Meanwhile, two people were reported dead after contracting the disease.
Meanwhile, about 32 of the new cases were categorized as imported, 27 of which were linked to a recent travel history to Britain.
“We expect the number of cases in Singapore to increase; all Singaporeans returning from the U.S. and Britain will be quarantined in hotels for 14 days, the maximum estimated incubation period for Covid-19,“ the ministry said.
Singapore had previously restricted inbound travel by banning tourists and short-term visitors, measures that are likely to hit the city-state’s trade and travel-dependent economy hard.
The Minister of Finance, Heng Keat, promised to unveil a supplementary budget on Thursday, in spite pledging almost 5 billion dollars to offset the health and economic impacts of the virus in the annual budget.
In the meantime, the coronavirus outbreak has been labelled by the WHO as a pandemic, with almost 17,000 people dead and more than 380,000 infected.
Keat, however, said that the need for the supplementary budget showed how fast the situation had deteriorated in recent time.