Singapore returns to lockdown, page-2

  1. 997 Posts.
    lightbulb Created with Sketch. 83
    Singapore: Three weeks after it outlined its much-publicised road map for living with COVID-19, Singapore is returning to a partial lockdown for a month.
    The south-east Asian city state is recording the highest incidence of new cases of the virus in 11 months with growing clusters around nightlife venues and a major fishing port causing alarm.
    With 182 new infections recorded on Tuesday, the country is reverting to the tight restrictions it had in place during May and June, shutting down dining in restaurants, closing indoor venues such as gyms and limiting gatherings to two people.
    The development is a setback to Singapore’s ambition to start dealing with COVID-19 as it would influenza and treating it as an endemic and manageable disease rather than a pandemic.

    However, those plans are tied to vaccination and while it has the highest inoculation levels in the region, with 46 per cent of the population of 5.5 million fully vaccinated and 73 per cent having received one shot, the rate is not yet high enough for Singapore to confidently take the next step.
    “Some people have also asked why we are tightening measures if we are planning to live with COVID-19 eventually and how this fits into our endemic COVID plan,” said Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong, a co-chair of the government’s multi-ministry virus taskforce.
 
arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch. arrow-down-2 Created with Sketch.