Relaxed Covid-19 measures: No 1-metre spacing rule at JJ Lin's concert

SINGAPORE- People attending Mandopop star JJ Lin's charity concert later this month will not need to be seated one metre apart, as part of a new protocol that will relax some safe management measures at selected events.

Other measures that will be eased as part of the Government's plan to live with Covid-19 include doing away with zones or increasing zone capacity for event participants.

The new protocol, known as the vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS) + Test, was announced by the authorities on Monday (Nov 15), as part of a plan to trial greater allowances at activities for those who are fully vaccinated.

However, these events will also be subject to additional requirements of Covid-19 testing before participation.

For example, participants must have their test result reflected on their TraceTogether app, or performed or supervised by the event organiser and the venue operator.

The VDS + Test protocol will start off with selected meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (Mice) events, spectator sports and live performances.

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Apart from JJ Lin's concert, After The Rain, other events under the new protocol include the ongoing Bloomberg New Economy Forum, the recent Milken Institute Asia Summit and the Industrial Transformation Asia Pacific 2021 event starting on Nov 22.

A One Championship martial arts event in the coming months will also be included.

Marina Bay Sands, the co-organiser for JJ Lin's concert, said all seats may be filled without the need for the 1m safe distancing or a one-seat spacing, but prevailing safe management measures must be observed, such as being fully masked at all times.

The concert, which will be held on Nov 27 and 28 at the Sands Theatre, is expected to be at near full capacity of about 2,000 people per night.

The annual Milken Institute Asia Summit, which ended on Tuesday (Nov 16), saw zones of 200 people, double the limit for other Mice events, which can have up to only 100 people per zone.

A spokesman for the Milken Institute Asia Center said: "The key focus of our event is the in-person component. It's great to have zones of 200 so our participants can network with each other in a safe environment."

He added that participants from each zone were given coloured lanyards to ensure that they do not mingle with one another.

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At the Bloomberg New Economy Forum, groups of five, including non-delegates, are allowed to dine together at the forum's venues and other designated restaurants. There are no zoning requirements.

Bloomberg Media's global head of communications Brian Strong said: "This means there will be no need to mark out zones and participants can move around freely. But everyone has to undergo an antigen rapid test every morning at their designated hotels before they can come for the event."

The Industrial Transformation Asia Pacific 2021, which is expecting about 5,000 in-person attendees over the three-day event, will also have no zoning requirements.

It can also have increased capacity limits of 1,000 people in a hall at any one time, double that of the 500 that other typical exhibitions can have.

Healthcare provider Raffles Medical Group will be conducting antigen rapid tests for the event's in-person attendees either onsite or at its clinics.

It is also trialling self-testing at home for selected attendees to reduce the strain on the onsite testing operations. These attendees will have to upload the test results onto a dedicated website.

The Singapore Tourism Board said it will continue to assess event proposals for pilot events and review its protocols for each event.

The Ministry of Health said the outcomes of these pilots will be assessed before deciding how to expand the protocol to more events and settings.