Singapore COVID-19 lockdown extended till June 1

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Tuesday that the partial lockdown imposed in the city-state to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus has been extended until June 1.nnThis means that more workplaces will be closed to further reduce the number of workers keeping essential services going, reports The Straits Times.nnSome hot spots, such as popular wet markets, remain a problem, as large groups of people continue to congregate there, Lee said in his fourth national address on the COVID-19 situation.nnWhile he noted that the measures, termed a “circuit breaker”, have been working, he stressed that Singapore cannot be complacent.nnHe said the number of unlinked cases has not come down, which suggests a “hidden reservoir” of cases in the community.nnSingapore must therefore press on with its tight circuit breaker measures to decisively bring down numbers in the community, The Straits times quoted Lee as saying.nn”We also want to make sure that if any leakage occurs from the dorms to the wider community, we can detect and contain it early, and prevent new clusters from forming and bursting out of control.”nnHe called on all Singaporeans to stay home as far as possible, and urged those who have to go out to do so alone and not as a group or with family.nnLee last addressed the nation on April 3 to announce the lockdown measures that kicked in four days later, forcing people to keep their distance from one another in an effort to limit the virus” spread.nnAs of Tuesday, Singapore had 8,014 cases, the highest in Southeast Asia, with 11 deaths.nnSingapore has seen a massive jump in infections among migrant workers living in cramped dormitories, which has become the city state”s greatest challenge in tackling the coronavirus, reports the South China Morning Post.nnInfections among these workers made up 76 per cent of Singapore”s cases as of Monday.nnSource: IANS