SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (April 3) reported 65 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of infections here to 1,114.

Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, director of medical services at MOH, said that of the new cases, nine are imported, while 39 are linked to previous cases. The remaining 17 have no links established as yet.

“Epidemiological investigations and contact tracing continue to see whether we can establish further links in these 17 cases,” he said during a multi-ministry task-force briefing that was held immediately after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong addressed the nation.

In his address, PM Lee announced that most workplaces, except for essential services and key economic sectors, will be shut down temporarily for a month as part of the Government’s stricter measures to “minimise physical contact” and keep the spread of Covid-19 in check.

During the briefing, Assoc Prof Mak said that 235 patients have been discharged from acute hospital care, while 401 patients have been transferred to either a community isolation facility or into a private hospital.

“These patients remain well, but are still waiting for their test results to turn negative before they can be released back into the community,” he said.

He added that 47 patients have been released from isolation and “they remain well where they are at home”.

Of the confirmed cases, 473 are still in hospital, and 25 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Five people have died from complications due to the disease, including an 86-year-old Singaporean woman earlier on Friday.

“We expect cases to continue to increase with each day,” Assoc Prof Mak said. “This is more related to infection exposure from either imported cases, or from others who had been in the community before we imposed our first set of safe-distancing measures.”

He also said that it will take time for the safe-distancing measures to take full effect, and the expansion of these measures is a precautionary step.

“It is designed to further reduce public circulation, to reduce the opportunities for people to interact closely, and therefore to reduce the risk of person-to-person spread.” 

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