FILE PHOTO: Workers wipe down doors at a train station during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore August 17, 2020. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
SINGAPORE — Singapore announced on Tuesday tighter curbs on social gatherings and stricter border measures after recording locally acquired cases of coronavirus variants, including a strain first detected in India.
After reporting very few local infections for months, numbers have increased over the last week, mainly linked to an outbreak at a hospital. On Tuesday, it confirmed five new locally acquired cases.
Though the cases are only a fraction of the number being reported among Singapore’s Southeast Asian neighbors, a jump in infections would be a setback for the Asian business hub, which has successfully contained its earlier outbreaks.