Singapore to loosen measures on Jun 14, further reopening to occur on Jun 21 if cases remain stable

This is due to the fall in community cases in Singapore over the past 2 weeks. At a press conference, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung revealed that Singapore’s seven day moving average cases have come down from 22.6 cases two weeks ago, to 14.4 last week, and 11.9 for the week of June 6.

Under the new Phase 3 (Heightened Alert) measures, the operating capacity of attractions, including the two cruise pilots, that have received MTI’s prior approval will be increased from the current capacity of 25% to 50%, while museums and public libraries will also be allowed to operate at an increased operating capacity of 50%.

Live performances and spectator sports events may also resume, and audience sizes for these events will be increased to 250 attendees with pre-event testing (PET), but PET will not be required for events with 50 or fewer attendees.

The same restrictions will apply for congregational and other worship services, and marriage solemnisations in external venues (i.e. not in a place of residence or in the Registry of Marriages/Registry of Muslim Marriages building)

For marriage solemnisations held in the home, the hosting household will be able to invite up to 5 visitors, excluding members of the hosting household, the solemniser and vendors, or have up to 10 attendees in total, excluding the solemniser and vendors, whichever is higher.

Further reopening

Dining in at F&B establishments will resume from June 21, gyms and fitness studios may resume indoor mask-off sports activities, with safe distancing of at least 2 metres between persons and at least 3 metres between groups of up to 5 persons.

Sports classes (both indoors and outdoors) will be capped at 30 persons (including the instructor) comprised of groups of no more than 5 persons. Class participants may unmask if they are engaging in strenuous activities.

Wedding receptions will be allowed to resume with up to 100 attendees (including the wedding couple but excluding vendors), with PET required for all attendees. For wedding receptions up to 50 attendees, PET is required only for all members of the wedding party (of up to 20 attendees including the wedding couple).

Unmasking and singing or playing of wind instruments for live performances will be allowed from June 21, as well as for live performances at congregational and worship services, with safe management measures.

In-person tuition and enrichment classes for those aged 18 and below will be allowed to resume with enhanced safe management measures, which will be announced by MOE. Arts and culture classes such as singing, and wind instruments will also be allowed to resume.

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With this reopening and increased activity levels, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong says that the country has to expect more cases, as there are still ‘hidden cases’ in the community that can still flare up.

“We won't be able to eradicate all of these hidden or cryptic cases in the community so we will have to learn to live with the virus, and then try our best to minimize transmission and minimize the risk of large clusters.” Wong says

Furthermore, work from home will still remain the default mode of working for companies, and the Government will extend the current enhancements to the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) for affected sectors until June 20.

From June 21 to 30, the affected sectors will receive 10% JSS support, and for taxi and private hire car drivers, the Government will extend the Covid-19 Driver Relief Fund for three more months at $300 per month per vehicle for July and August, and $150 per month per vehicle for September.

Four locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 - of which two are unlinked -have been reported on June 10, along with 9 more imported cases.

Cover photo: Bloomberg