Singapore's IT infrastructure is able to cope with the rise in usage even as more people work from home, with most workplaces closed for one month from Tuesday, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said yesterday.

"We have consulted our colleagues at the Ministry of Communications and Information, and they have assured us that we do have the IT infrastructure to cope with the increase in usage," he said at a media conference. Mr Wong co-chairs the multi-ministry task force to fight Covid-19.

The reason, he added, is that Singapore has invested significantly in infrastructure over the years, including fibre broadband for homes.

Internet data traffic in Singapore has surged as much as 60 per cent in the past month as more people are working from home, Internet service providers told The Straits Times earlier this week.

MyRepublic has been experiencing the upper end of the rise in daytime traffic, while ViewQwest has seen an overall 30 per cent spike. Singtel and StarHub also reported a noticeable rise in traffic.