By Kay del Rosario
Tightened measures introduced almost a month ago will be eased starting Monday, 14 June 2021. It will be a calibrated re-opening in two steps, with more activities allowed to resume from 21 June 2021.
The Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) made this announcement on 10 June 2021.
This comes after a reduction in the number of community cases and a slow down in chains of transmission in the past weeks under Phase 2 (Heightened Alert).
“The MTF would like to thank all Singaporeans and residents for their efforts and cooperation in adhering to the tightened measures,” they said.
Group size limit will be raised from two persons to five persons for social gatherings. The cap of two distinct visitors per household per day will also go up to 5 distinct visitors per household per day.
Event size and capacity limits will also increase.
For instance, operating capacity of attractions, including the two cruise pilots, will be increased from the current capacity of 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
Museums and public libraries will also be allowed to operate at an increased operating capacity of 50 per cent.
Personal care and appearance services, such as facials, which require masks to be removed will be allowed to resume.
Dining in at F&B establishments will be allowed to resume if the situation remains under control in the coming weeks.
No more than five persons will be able to dine together, with one-metre safe distancing between groups.
MTF Co-Chair Lawrence Wong said: “While I understand that F&B operators will be disappointed that they have to wait one more week before they can reopen, I would ask all of them to make use of the one week to really go through their processes, their protocols, make sure that their restaurant layouts comply fully with the rules.”
Wedding receptions will be allowed to resume with up to 100 attendees which includes the wedding couple but excluding vendors, with pre-event testing (PET) required for all attendees.
Live performances will be allowed, gyms and fitness studios may resume indoor mask-off sports activities, and in-person tuition and enrichment classes for those aged 18 and below will resume.
The Government will extend the current enhancements to the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) for affected sectors until 20 June 2021, in view of the continued closure of various activities.
From 21 to 30 June 2021, the affected sectors will receive 10 per cent JSS support.
Work-from-home will continue to remain the default arrangement.
Employers must ensure that employees who are able to work-from-home do so, continue to stagger start times of employees who need to return to the workplace, and implement flexible working hours.
There should continue to be no cross-deployment of workers to multiple worksites.
“We will continue to monitor … we are just emerging from this period of heightened alert from Phase 2 to Phase 3 Heightened Alert, the embers are still there, we do not want to encourage too much movement.
“We will resume activities progressively but we do not want everything to happen all at the same time,” said Mr Wong.
Singapore Citizens aged 12 to 39 years will be able to register for vaccines online through vaccine.gov.sg and book an appointment from 11 June 2021 onwards.
Individuals who have had an earlier COVID-19 infection, and have recovered, are recommended to receive a single dose of vaccine as there is evidence indicating that a single dose would further boost their immunity against COVID-19.
As recovered individuals within the first six months after their infection are likely to still have a strong immune response that has not faded, we will prioritise only those who had an earlier COVID-19 infection from over six months ago for the one-dose vaccination at this point.
Such recovered persons will be able to register from 11 June 2021 onwards, if they are part of a population group that is already eligible for vaccination.
