English
Singapore: Dine-in group size reduced to 2 from July 19; cap of 5 remains for those fully vaccinated
FOR three weeks from Monday July 19, dining-in at food and beverage (F&B) establishments will be scaled back to groups of no more than two people.
Those who are fully-vaccinated, however, can continue to dine-in in groups of five at participating F&B outlets that have put in place systems to check the vaccination status of patrons, the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 announced on Friday.
In Singapore, a person is considered fully-vaccinated two weeks after he or she has received two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Moderna vaccines.
Unvaccinated individuals with a valid negative pre-event test result, as well as those who have recovered from Covid-19, are of similarly lower risk and may also join in such groups of five.
Children below the age of 12, who are currently ineligible for any Covid-19 vaccine in Singapore’s national vaccination programme, can dine together with members of the same household, so long as the whole group does not exceed five people.
These tightened measures, which will last through Aug 8, come as community cases of infection have surged due to a cluster involving numerous KTV lounges.
The number of cases linked to the KTV cluster has grown to 120 cases, with more cases expected in the coming days, the task force said at a virtual press conference. This makes it Singapore’s largest active cluster.
“This is a major setback to our journey to recovery. I understand that many Singaporeans will be disappointed, and so are we. We must respond to this emerging cluster quickly, especially to protect those who have not yet been vaccinated,” said Minister for Trade and Industry and task force co-chair Gan Kim Yong.
But instead of rolling back safe management measures drastically, the authorities are looking at a more “targeted approach” that differentiates according to individuals’ vaccination statuses.
Singapore is “well on track” to have two-thirds of its population vaccinated by National Day on Aug 9, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.
In view of the tightened measures, individual F&B outlets will have the flexibility to decide whether to introduce vaccination-differentiated group sizes, depending on their operating models and clientele, as well as the ability to check patrons’ vaccination statuses.
Group sizes will be limited to two at hawker centres, food courts and coffee shops, which have a “more porous setting” and generally do not mandate SafeEntry check-ins.
“As dining-in in F&B establishments remains a high-risk activity because many people will be unmasked and in close proximity with each other, entertainment such as live performances, recorded music and videos/TV screenings will continue to be prohibited at F&B establishments,” the Ministry of Health said in a press release on Friday.
Source: https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/dine-in-group-size-reduced-to-2-from-july-19-cap-of-5-remains-for-those-fully