Singapore, Aug 20 (IANS): Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 32 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, bringing the total tally in the country to 66,366.

The new infections included 29 locally transmitted cases. As many as 11 are linked to previous cases and have already been placed on quarantine. Five are linked to previous cases and were detected through surveillance, while 13 are currently unlinked, the Xinhua news agency reported.

There are three imported cases, who have already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Among them, one was detected upon arrival in Singapore, while two developed the illness during SHN or isolation.

A total of 391 cases are currently warded in hospital. Most are well and under observation. There are currently 29 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and eight in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

As of August 18, 77 per cent of Singapore's population have completed the full vaccination regimen, and 82 per cent have received at least one dose.

The ministry also announced that the city-state will classify countries and regions into four categories, each with differentiated border measures, premised on a traveller's 21-day travel history prior to their entry into Singapore.

This is the first step of Singapore to introduce vaccination-differentiated border measures for travellers from countries and regions that have controlled the pandemic well and also vaccinated large parts of their population.

Beyond this framework, the country will implement a new Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) to facilitate fully vaccinated persons to travel into Singapore under reduced border measures. It will start pilot VTL arrangements with Brunei and Germany.