Part of a Singapore General Hospital (SGH) carpark will be used as a fever screening area from today amid a spike in the number of Covid-19 patients. It will be manned by staff from all six SGH medical divisions, as well as the nursing and allied health departments.

The move, announced in an internal note to staff yesterday, aims to help manage the growing number of patients infected with the coronavirus.

Singapore confirmed 32 new coronavirus patients yesterday, 24 of which were imported cases, mostly from Europe, and 47 new patients on Wednesday - the highest numbers since the start of the outbreak. They bring the total number of cases here to 345.

The National Centre for Infectious Diseases in Novena has seen queues at its screening area grow this week. In their note, SGH chief executive officer Kenneth Kwek and medical board chairman Ruban Poopalalingam said the spike in cases was "a situation that we have anticipated and have been planning (for) to meet the increased need for care".

Eight in 10 of Singapore's imported Covid-19 cases have been reported in the last 10 days, and experts warn they could keep rising for the next two weeks as travellers return home following lockdowns around the world, before hopefully stabilising.