SINGAPORE - Twenty-three new coronavirus cases were announced on Sunday night (March 22) by the Ministry of Health (MOH), bringing the total number in Singapore to 455.

Of these cases, 18 were imported cases that had travelled to Europe, North America, South America and Asean.

Almost all of these new imported cases are returning residents and long-term pass holders, with only one short-term visitor.

Of the five locally transmitted cases announced Sunday, three are linked to previous cases. One of them, Case 443, is linked to the Boulder+ climbing gym cluster which now has six cases linked to it in total.

Two are currently not linked to previous cases.

The MOH also said four more have recovered from the Covid-19 disease. To date, a total of 144 cases have fully recovered from the infection and been discharged from hospital.

Of the 309 still in hospital, most are stable or improving. A total of 14 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Two Covid-19 patients here died from complications on Saturday morning, the Republic's first deaths from the outbreak.

They were a 75-year-old Singaporean woman linked to the Life Church and Missions Singapore cluster, and a 64-year-old Indonesian national.

Most of the new patients in Singapore recently have been imported cases, which now outnumber those transmitted locally.

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The Government has since tightened border controls, announcing earlier on Sunday that all short-term visitors will be barred from Singapore from 11.59pm on Monday.

Previously, apart from a handful of countries, short-term visitors from elsewhere were allowed to come into Singapore but were issued a 14-day stay-home notice (SHN) upon arrival.

In addition to stricter border controls, the authorities have also implemented safe distancing measures such as smaller crowd sizes.

For example, all events and gatherings with 250 or more participants are to be suspended until June 30, while the suspension of all social activities for seniors by government agencies will be extended for another two weeks until April 7.

To date, there are more than 260,000 Covid-19 cases across 185 countries, and around 11,200 deaths.

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