Singapore to further ease COVID restrictions

Singapore is to further ease coronavirus restrictions from next Monday following an improvement in the COVID-19 situation as more residents get vaccinated, according to media reports on Wednesday.

Larger groups of five people will be allowed to dine in at eateries from next Monday, up from the current two. Social gatherings at the workplace can also resume – subject to the five-person limit – but working from home will remain as the default, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

"Effectively, we are going up to five persons across the board, and that will apply on July 12," said Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the COVID-19 multi-ministerial task force.

The easing of measures comes as the number of new COVID-19 community cases decreased from 86 the week before to 28 in the past week as of July 5.

The number of unlinked cases in the community also fell from 14 to 4 in the past week, reported the Channel News Asia citing MOH data.

On June 21, dining out at F&B outlets and restaurants resumed for groups of up to two people instead of five as initially planned, following a spike in unlinked cases and new COVID-19 clusters.

Two-thirds of the population will have received at least the first dose of the vaccine by the end of Wednesday, and the multi-ministry task force on COVID-19 expects half of the population to be fully vaccinated by the end of the month, The Straits Times reported.

Restrictions could be eased further when that milestone is reached and if the situation remains stable, it said.

The MOH said at the time that it would review these measures in mid-July.

MOH said on Wednesday that dining out is still a higher-risk activity because many people are unmasked and in close proximity. Gyms and fitness studios can conduct indoor high-intensity or mask-off sports and exercise in groups of up to five next Monday.

Sports and exercise classes can have up to 50 people including the instructor, or the venue's capacity limit, whichever is lower. Participants should be separated into groups of up to five.

Wedding receptions can also resume, with no more than 250 people if pre-event testing is in place, said Wong.

For wedding receptions with 50 people or fewer, only the wedding party will need to undergo pre-event testing, he added.

Wedding receptions are also higher-risk activities where attendees tend to "socialize more" and over a longer time, the MOH noted. It urged attendees to adhere to safe-management measures to reduce the risk of transmission.