SINGAPORE, March 18. /TASS/. The amount of coronavirus infection cases in Singapore has increased by 47 in the past 24 hour, marking the largest daily increase since the first case was confirmed on January 23, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced Wednesday.

"In the past 24 hours, 47 new cases have been registered; 33 people were infected abroad," the Minister said, adding that the total number of cases have reached 313 people.

"We expect significant increase of the number of the infected in the upcoming 2-3 weeks," the official admitted.

On February 7, the authorities have increased the national threat level to last before all-out pandemic. On March 12, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that he does not plan to declare the highest threat level.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in more than 130 countries, including Russia.

On March 11, the WHO declared the outbreak a global pandemic.