SINGAPORE - From Monday (Nov 22), fully-vaccinated people will be able to dine at restaurants and other food and beverage outlets in groups of up to five.
With the easing of restrictions, people will also be able to gather in groups of up to five and receive five visitors per day, up from two now.
The relaxed dining-in rules will take effect at hawker centres and coffeeshops from Tuesday (Nov 23), as long as these establishments are able to check patrons' vaccination status. If no such systems are in place, group sizes will remain capped at two.
Singapore is in a better position to ease measures now, given that the overall Covid-19 situation has remained stable and the weekly infection growth rate has stayed at one or lower, Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong said at a press conference on Saturday.
The proportion of severe cases has also been stable, added Mr Gan, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force handling the pandemic. The current raft of tightened measures were due to lapse on Monday.
But he urged unvaccinated people to stay at home as much as possible, to protect themselves against the virus. People visiting households with unvaccinated people are also encouraged to test themselves prior to the visit.
The Health Ministry on Saturday said households should only accept vaccinated visitors, to avoid exposing those who are unvaccinated to the virus.
"I know some prefer to open up more quickly, but we must do so in a very careful and step-by-step manner," Mr Gan said, reiterating that the task forcewill observe outcomes from the current easing before relaxing measures further. "This way, we hope to avoid any disruptive U-turns."
Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the current period provides a "valuable window of opportunity" to ease measures, and will allow people to ease into the upcoming festive season rather than risking a sudden spike in cases.
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While the easing will likely lead to more social interactions, which may result in more daily Covid-19 cases and more patients getting hospitalised, the growing number of people getting vaccine boosters - along with vaccination-differentiated measures - will help mitigate the impact on Singapore's healthcare system, he added.
If Singapore misses this window and delays reopening until next year, the added protection from boosters may have weakened somewhat, Mr Ong said, resulting in poorer outcomes in terms of Covid-19 infections and the resulting strain on the healthcare system.
Other rules to be relaxed from Monday include those imposed on weddings and solemnisations, while vaccination-differentiated measures will be expanded to hospitals and nursing homes.
This means in-person visits will only be allowed if visitors and patients or nursing home residents are fully vaccinated, unless either party has a medical exemption.
If one party is not fully vaccinated, such visits will only be allowed "under exceptional circumstances on a case-by-case basis, as advised by the hospitals and homes".
From Dec 1, people who are medically ineligible for vaccination will also be able to enter venues or participate in activities where vaccination is typically required.
These vaccination-differentiated measures will also be expanded further from the same date, to cover all libraries under the National Library Board and selected activities in community clubs or centres under the People's Association (PA).
Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said the task force will try its best to avoid rolling back any measures.
He noted that the current easing is deliberated focused on one parameter - the maximum size of social gatherings - and that the relaxation is coupled with stricter vaccination-differentiated measures.
There have been requests to relax measures in other areas, such as expanded capacity limits for attractions and eased workplace restrictions, he noted.
"Everything else we are holding back for the time being, and again this is part of our incremental approach."
If all goes well, he said the task force will consider a further easing of measures around the end of December.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
