Here is some good news to end your Monday. With Singapore well into the stabilisation phase and some Covid-19 measures having been eased. Even though we are still recording more than 3000 cases a day, according to Minister Gan Kim Yong, the situation has stabilised to allow some easing of measures.
“The week-on-week ratio of infections has come down to below one over the last few days, and it was at 0.81 as of Nov 7. The number of cases in hospitals and the proportion of cases with serious illness has also remained stable,” he said.
Safe management measures for businesses will also be refined to “better facilitate operations”, he said.
Families can now dine out in groups of 5
From Wednesday, November 10, fully vaccinated people from the same household can dine out together in groups of up to five. However, this easing of dining-out restrictions will not apply to those from different households, that still remains as a cap at two fully vaccinated people,
This new easing of restrictions also does not apply to hawker centres and coffee shops. Since those areas are not able to administer “comprehensive” vaccination checks said the task force.
“We are prepared to extend the same concession to hawker centres and coffee shops once they have put in place additional control measures.”
The National Environment Agency and Singapore Food Agency will engage the hawkers’ associations and coffee shop operators on this, and further updates will be provided when ready, the ministry said.
Still, social gatherings are still limited to a maximum of two people and should be kept at one a day, whether to another household or in a public place.
The cap on household visitors remains unchanged at two a day. This does not apply to grandchildren being cared for by grandparents.
More school activities will also resume, including in-person classes, group work and co-curricular activities, said Mr Gan.
Music can now be played at at F&B outlets
Another piece of good news for F&B outlets, they will now be allowed to play “soft recorded music” from November 10.
However, live music and entertainment remain banned. It’s a small step, but one that I’m sure that many F&B owners can appreciate in the covid-19 era.
Cinemas and live performances
To facilitate Singapore opening back up, the capacity at cinemas, live performances and MICE events will be increased.
Zones of up to 100 attendees will be allowed; this is up previously from 50 attendees. A 2-metre separation is down from 3 metres.
For live performances and worship, there needs to be a 2-metre distance between performer and audience.
Static performers are allowed in groups of two, and there is no need to maintain social distancing within the group. Groups still need to maintain a distance of 1 metre between each other.
Sports and fitness classes
For all the gym rats and fitness class fanatics, there’s no need to clamour for spots now. For indoor high-intensity classes, the distance between groups is down to 2 metres from the previous 3 metres.
There is no intermingling between groups, and at least 2 metres must be maintained between groups.
Singapore working towards opening back up
While the number of COVID-19 cases in hospitals and under intensive care remains high, it is stable – ICU utilisation is “hovering at around 70 per cent”, said MOH.
With the situation stabilising, we are now in a better position to ease some of our safe management measures without overwhelming our healthcare system.”
This is why vaccination-differentiated measures will continue to be a key part of Singapore’s reopening strategy, said Mr Gan, who is one of three co-chairs of the multi-ministerial task force tackling the pandemic. Seeing as more VTLs are opening up, it seems like a covid-19 reality is possible after all.
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Featured image credit: Unsplash, iStock
Also read: Singapore-Malaysia VTL to start from Nov 29 for quarantine-free air travel
