Singapore to close entertainment venues, limit gatherings to curb COVID-19 spread

Source: Xinhua| 2020-03-24 23:34:22|Editor: yan
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SINGAPORE, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Singapore will close all bars and entertainment venues like night clubs, discos, cinemas, theatres and karaoke outlets from 11:59 pm Thursday till April 30 to curb COVID-19 spread.

Announcing a slew of its toughest measures yet, the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force said in a statement it would limit gatherings outside of work and school to 10 persons to prevent the risk of further local transmission of COVID-19.

Indoor and outdoor shows within attractions, group tours at the museums, and open atrium sales events will be suspended. The taskforce warned that retail malls and attractions may face additional penalties if found to have been a place of transmission of COVID-19 and found to not adhere to these requirements.

All events and mass gatherings (such as conferences, exhibitions, festivals, concerts, sporting events, trade fairs) must be postponed or cancelled, regardless of size. This is a tightening of the previous requirement where all events and gatherings were to be limited to fewer than 250 participants.

The taskforce said other public venues such as retail malls, museums and attractions, where contact is more transient, may remain open. But operators need to ensure that the venue does not have more than one person per 16 square metres of usable space.

This to "significantly reduce" the density of crowds in these venues, especially during peak periods, said the taskforce.

All centre-based tuition and enrichment classes will be suspended, as well as all religious services and congregations.

However, places of worship may remain open for private worship and essential rites, subject to a group size of up to 10.

This comes as Singapore reported 49 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, of which 32 were imported cases. This brings the country's total number of infected patients to 558, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update. To date, a total of 156 cases have been discharged.

Majority of the imported cases had travel history to the United States and Britain.

More Singapore residents - including a sizeable group of Singaporean students - are expected to return the coming weeks in response to lockdowns in these countries.

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