All arrivals to S’pore from Asean nations, UK must self-isolate

Bloomberg

All arrivals to Singapore from the Asean group of nations as well as Japan, Switzerland and UK will have to self-isolate for two weeks in the city-state’s latest measure to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.
The only exception will be to Singapore’s land and
sea border crossings with Malaysia due to the special relationship between the two nations, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said at a press briefing on Sunday. About 300,000 people travel across the land checkpoints each day, he said.
Those who come to the city-state will have to provide proof of where they are staying and may be tested for the coronavirus, even if they do not show any symptoms, the health ministry said in a statement.
The move comes after Singapore’s Covid-19 infections reached 226 on Sunday, even as the island nation has yet to report a death from the infection. More than three-quarters of cases in the last three days involved those who had recently traveled abroad with the large majority involving residents in the country,
according to the health ministry.
The country’s new travel restrictions will be reviewed in a month, when the measures may be extended. Singaporeans are advised to defer any and all non-essential travel abroad in the next 30 days, the health ministry said.
On March 14, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned the economic fallout from the pandemic could be more serious than the damage done by the 2008 global financial crisis for Singapore.
Covid-19 infection cases have crossed 152,000 globally, with deaths above 5,700 even as situation in China and South Korea — the worst-affected — indicated improvement.