SINGAPORE - Singapore reported 191 new cases of Covid-19 infection on Saturday (April 11).
This means there are now 2,299 cases here, according to latest figures released by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
A 90-year-old Singaporean man has also died from complications due to the infection, the eighth such death here.
He was Case 1,142 and was a locally transmitted and unlinked case. He was confirmed to have the coronavirus on April 3 and was warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.
Three newly identified clusters, all at foreign worker dormitories - Westlite Woodlands dormitory, North Coast Lodge and Cassia @ Penjuru - were reported as well.
Most of the new cases announced on Saturday are, for now, unlinked to previously known cases or clusters. Contact tracing is underway for these 119 cases.
There are 52 cases linked to known clusters, while 20 are linked to other cases. No imported cases were reported.
Another 35 patients have also been discharged.
To date, a total of 528 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
Of the 943 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving, while 31 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
A total of 820 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
As of 12pm on Saturday, MOH has identified 26,189 close contacts who have been quarantined.
Of these, 10,757 are currently quarantined and 15,432 have completed their quarantine.
Earlier on Saturday, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) issued an advisory to employers of foreign workers to ensure that the workers continue to receive their salaries during the circuit breaker period.
All employers with workers residing in dormitories are now required to pay salaries electronically, through Giro or direct bank transfer. They also have to make a declaration by April 15, 11.59pm that they will do so by the next salary payment due date.
The ministry said that 76 per cent of employers are already paying workers electronically, while the remaining 24 per cent are now required to shift to electronic payments.
In a separate statement, MOM said on Saturday that within 48 hours, the food distribution, cleanliness and hygiene standards were stabilised at two dormitories recently gazetted as isolation areas.
Sungei Tengah Lodge Dormitory and Tampines Dormitory were gazetted on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, days after three other dormitories were also declared as such, following an increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases among the workers there.
MOM said that the inter-agency task force it leads was able to quickly normalise operations and living conditions after gleaning experience from managing the first three dormitories.
It added that it would continue to reduce the number of workers in each dormitory in order to implement effective safe distancing measures within the dormitories.
Earlier on Saturday, Transport Minister Khaw Boon Wan said all commuters will soon be required to wear masks on public transport to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Enterprise Singapore and the Singapore Tourism Board said that all customers visiting supermarkets, convenience stores, pharmacies and shopping malls must wear masks from Sunday, or they will be denied entry.
The Singapore Food Agency also said that all workers engaged in the sale and preparation of food and drinks will be required to wear masks or other forms of physical barriers from Monday.
On Friday, the National Environment Agency (NEA) said that from Sunday, those who do not wear a mask will be turned away at the 39 markets managed by the NEA or NEA-appointed operators.
