Singapore will scrap rules for wearing masks in most indoor settings as the country moves further toward casting off all its pandemic-era curbs.
Masks will only be required on public transport and health-care facilities like hospitals and nursing homes after the easing, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his annual National Day Rally speech Sunday. Details will be released later, he said.
The masking requirement is one of the last few virus curbs in the Southeast Asian city-state after authorities lifted most rules including limits on gatherings, and testing for incoming vaccinated travellers. Outdoor masks were made optional earlier this year as part of a pivot toward a strategy of living with Covid.
Some Asian countries have been more wary of moving away from mask rules completely.
Lee said the latest wave of Covid is now subsiding. Covid cases in Singapore have fallen from a high of above 10,000 cases during a peak in mid-July to around 3,000 as of Aug. 20, according to a seven-day moving average compiled by the health ministry.
