The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced in a press conference on Friday (Jul. 17) that all travellers with recent travel history, including transit, to Victoria (Australia), Japan, and Hong Kong within the last 14 days will be required to serve their Stay-Home Notice (SHN) at dedicated SHN facilities instead of their own place of residence.

This new measure, which is in response to the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in those regions, will take effect after 11:59pm on Jul. 19.

Previous SHN situation

MOH had previously announced that starting after 11:59pm on Mar. 21, all incoming travellers — including Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents and Long Term Pass holders — would be required to serve a mandatory 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN).

The ministry then updated the guidelines, such that starting after Jun. 17, 11:59pm, all travellers entering Singapore and who had remained in a select list of countries or regions in the previous consecutive 14 days prior to entry, no longer had to serve their SHN at dedicated SHN facilities.

These countries and regions were:

• Australia
• Brunei Darussalam
• Hong Kong
• Japan
• Macao
• Mainland China
• New Zealand
• Republic of Korea
• Taiwan
• Vietnam

The guidelines remain that all travellers who left Singapore from Mar. 27 despite the prevailing travel advisory, and travellers who are not Singapore Citizens or Permanent Residents, are required to pay for their stay at dedicated SHN facilities.

MOH stated on Jul. 17 that it will continue to update Singapore's border measures as the global situation evolves.

Resurgence of cases

Japan, Hong Kong, and Victoria (Australia) have all seen a resurgence in Covid-19 cases in the past days.

According to Kyodo News, Tokyo had a record high number of cases on Friday (Jul. 16), with 293 new reported cases. The previous record was Thursday (Jul. 15), with 286 cases.

Kyodo News reported that there were a total of 622 new Covid-19 cases confirmed across Japan on Thursday, making it the most since Apr. 11.

The South China Morning Post reported that cases in Hong Kong hit an all-time daily high on Thursday (Jul. 16), with 67 cases reported.

Four of the cases were imported, and 35 of the 64 locally-transmitted cases were untraceable. According to SCMP, 120 out of 299 local infections since Jul. 6 have been untraceable.

As of Jul. 16, Hong Kong has had 1,655 Covid-19 cases and 10 Covid-19-related deaths.

This new wave of cases has seen Hong Kong tightening its social distancing measures.

As of Jul. 17, Victoria — the second-most populous state in Australia and which includes the city of Melbourne — has 5,165 cases of Covid-19, seeing a record-high single day increase of 428 cases.

Between Jul. 9 and Jul. 15, there were more than 1,300 cases reported in Victoria, 600 cases more than were reported in the previous week.

According to CNA, Victoria has been isolated from the rest of Australia for more than a week, following the new outbreak of Covid-19.

Top photos via Australia.com, Lonely Planet, and Unsplash.