The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced 106 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore as of 12pm on April 7.

Among the 106 patients, 41 are still pending contact tracing results.

The surge in cases brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 1,481.

Of these, 924 cases are locally transmitted, while 557 have been imported since the start of the outbreak.

1 out of 3 local cases remains unlinked

While Singaporeans are concerned about the sudden spike in local cases, another worry among the population is the increase in unlinked cases in the community.

According to MOH's Situation Report, the proportion of unlinked cases has become significantly higher since March 21.

As of April 7, there are 304 unlinked cases out of 924 local cases, forming 32.9 per cent of total local cases.

In other words, one out of every three patients that have contracted Covid-19 is not linked to any known cases yet.

Health minister urges patients to be cooperative and truthful

However, the high total number of unlinked cases that Singapore is now experiencing can be controlled if the contact tracing team has more time to uncover the links, and if the patients are cooperative in providing as much details possible.

On Friday, April 3, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce announced that the country will enter a "circuit breaker" period for 28 days until May 4, 2020.

At the press conference, Minister for Health, Gan Kim Yong, appealed for Singaporeans to help the authorities by sharing with them openly who their close contacts are, and to give the necessary cooperation and support.

"We do want to get to the bottom," he said last Friday as he assured that the team is now ramping up contact tracing and containment efforts.

As the contact tracing process is highly dependent on the patients' memory work, some details could have been unintentionally left out.

That's where the app TraceTogether comes in to complement the patients' memories.

Why safe distancing and quarantine matters?

Enhanced safe distancing through circuit breaker measures is necessary, given the high proportion of unlinked cases.

This is to identify possible hidden carriers and reduce their movements to contain further transmission.

Here's a quick video to explain how Covid-19 can spread rapidly if such hidden carriers are left in the community:

With that, please stay at home as much as possible for the next 27 days.

Top photo via Zheng Zhangxin and Travel Triangle video