With the number of clusters in Singapore growing seemingly by the day, and the looming start of the government's circuit breaker measures, Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong urged Singaporeans to take latest stringent precautions seriously.

"The priority is to stay home, as much as you can," he said at an Apr. 5 press conference.

120 new cases

Earlier, Gan and the rest of the multi-ministry Covid-19 taskforce had announced 120 newly confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Singapore, the single biggest day spike in cases so far.

The jump in cases comes a day before a month-long implementation of circuit breaker measures which will see all non-essential businesses required either move to full telecommuting or shut down.

Singapore residents have also been advised to stay at home and avoid all social interaction outside their immediate families, while food outlets can only offer serve take away or delivery orders.

"Priority is stay at home"

"Very often I find people asking me, 'Can I do this? Can I do that? Can I go to the park? Can I share a meal with my friends?'" said Gan, acknowledging that socialising and exercise were important.

"The question is not whether you can do so, but whether you need to do so.

The priority is stay at home as much as you can. Minimise the need to go out. Go out only when you absolutely need to do so."

Gan said that it was okay for residents to leave their homes to exercise. He said when individuals did leave the house, they should avoid areas where crowds might be expected.

Adding on, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said that the aim of the circuit breaker was to "bring social activity down to a bare minimum."

Wong said that studying the history of transmissions showed two common vectors: workplaces and social gatherings.

"The circuit breaker is really designed to break these possible transmission chains."

"We are all in this together," he said. "Everyone has to take the measures quite seriously."

Top image screenshots from CNA