Tighter border restrictions as coronavirus cases in Singapore go past 800

The flight information board at Changi Airport’s Terminal 2 showing flight cancellations on March 23, 2020, as border controls around the world tightened over the past week to stem the Covid-19 outbreak. PHOTO: ST FILE

Singapore has further tightened restrictions on the entry of foreigners, announcing yesterday that all long-term visit pass (LTVP) holders and student pass holders have to obtain approval from the authorities first, starting from 11.59pm tonight.

This comes as the number of coronavirus cases here passed the 800 mark to hit 802, after the Health Ministry said last night it had detected 70 more people with the infection.

Among them is a new case linked to the cluster at the PCF Sparkletots pre-school in Fengshan. There are now 26 cases linked to the pre-school.

Another two cases were traced to a cluster at SingPost Centre, bringing the number of linked cases to five.

SingPost had suspended its packet-sorting operations on Thursday for disinfection after the first cases were confirmed.

Last night, it said that the National Environment Agency had given it the go-ahead to resume operations today.

"All affected staff are not postmen and therefore have no contact with members of the public in their line of work," it further reassured the public.

Meanwhile, the Government announced yesterday that LTVP holders, and those granted in-principle approval, who are planning to enter or return to Singapore must obtain the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's permission before they start their journeys by submitting their applications via e-mail.

Existing student pass holders and those who have been granted in-principle approval must obtain permission from the Ministry of Education (MOE).

MOE said it will take into consideration the course in which the student is enrolled and prioritise approval for those studying in publicly funded institutes of higher learning.

Earlier, the authorities tightened entry rules for foreigners here by not allowing all short-term visitors to enter or transit through Singapore from last Tuesday.

• Additional reporting by Timothy Goh

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on March 29, 2020, with the headline Tighter border restrictions as coronavirus cases in Singapore go past 800. Subscribe