Singapore today reported 741 new novel coronavirus cases, the majority of them being migrant workers, taking the total number of infections in the country to 20,939. Singapore Health Ministry said that a total of 725 of the new cases are work permit holders residing in dormitories. Nine are work permit holders residing outside dormitories.

Seven of the new cases were in the community, of which five are Singapore citizens or permanent residents and two are work pass holders (all being foreigners). The ministry said two healthcare workers are among the community cases reported today.
Nineteen of the 1,376 confirmed cases in the hospital are in critical and in the intensive care unit. The others are mostly stable and improving. A total of 17,831 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. Twenty people have died of the disease in Singapore. Meanwhile, the Indian High Commissioner in Singapore has said the first of the nearly 20 special flights to evacuate stranded Indians from the city-state will start tomorrow.

While,In United States, nearly 3.2 million laid-off workers applied for unemployment benefits last week as the business shutdowns caused by the viral outbreak deepened the worst economic catastrophe in decades. Roughly 33.5 million people have now filed for jobless aid in the seven weeks since the Corona virus began forcing millions of companies to close their doors and slash their work forces.

The unemployment rate is forecast to reach 16 per cent, the highest rate since the Great Depression and economists estimate that 21 million jobs were lost last month. It would mean that nearly all the job growth in the 11 years since the Great Recession ended has vanished in a single month.