SINGAPORE, Nov 20 (Bloomberg): Singapore will relax virus-related curbs from Monday, allowing five people from different households to sit together at restaurants, although ministers cautioned against expecting any major changes this year.
"We are now transiting towards living with Covid-19 and I know many or some prefer to open up more quickly, but we must do so in a very careful and step-by-step manner,” Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong said at a multi-ministry task force briefing on Saturday.
After the city-state saw a declining in the growth rate of daily coronavirus infections, the limit on social gatherings will be increased to five people, up from two, and visits to hospitals and residential care homes will be extended to those who are medically ineligible for vaccination from Dec. 1.
Despite optimism over lower case numbers, the task force warned that they will refrain from significantly easing restrictions further until 2022, amid concerns that year-end festivities may result in new wave of infections.
Other measures announced in the briefing include:
Allowing individuals to receive booster vaccinations five months after their second dose (instead of six) and increasing the number that can dine-in at hawker centres and coffee shops to five vaccinated people.
Resuming in-person visits to residential care homes and hospitals.
The South-East Asian nation reported a total of 1,734 new cases as of noon on Nov. 19, down from 2,038 the day before, bringing the weekly infection growth rate, a key government metric for easing, down to 0.77. That’s the lowest it has been since the Ministry of Health started reporting such data two months ago.
There has been a rising trend in the proportion of Covid-19 cases involving children under 12-years-old, according to the health ministry’s Director of Medical Services Kenneth Mak, who added that Singapore is "hopeful” it will expand vaccine eligibility for that population from January.
The task force said it expected infections to rise after relaxing measures.
"If we seek to push the limits, let our guard down, we will spark a resurgence of cases which can very quickly overwhelm our hospital system yet again,” said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the country’s virus task force.
"We are trying very hard to avoid such a scenario and that’s why we are moving incrementally and easing in small steps.” - Bloomberg
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