Given the long runway towards stemming transmissions within the local population, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced a four-week extension to the circuit breaker which means it will now end on June 1, instead of the previously announced May 4. Additional tightening measures such as the closure of less critical services like F&B and retail have also been imposed, so that the percentage of the workforce still commuting to work reduces to 15%, from the current 20%, says National Development Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also Co-Chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Covid-19.
SINGAPORE (Apr 24): It has been over two weeks since Singapore’s “circuit breaker” measures restricting operations of non-essential services kicked in. And while it has reduced the transmission of Covid-19 in the community from a daily average of 39 cases to 29, experts say there is still room for improvement. “We have certainly seen a drop in numbers, but I must say I am disappointed,” says Dr Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital.
“I expected the numbers to continue to fall, but it seems to have stagnated at around 25-30 cases a day. I would want the numbers to fall at this point to less than 10-15 and less than five towards May 4, to tell me certainly that the circuit breaker efforts were very effective,” he adds.
