SINGAPORE, Sept 24 — From next Monday (September 27) to October 24, the government will reimpose a two-person limit for all social gatherings and for vaccinated people dining at eateries, down from the current cap of five.
Work-from-home will also be the default arrangement for all employees who are able to work from home, the government’s Covid-19 task force announced today.
Those who are unvaccinated may continue to dine in at hawker centres and coffee shops in groups of up to two because these places are considered essential food services.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a press statement on Friday that the following groups may also dine in at eateries from next Monday, provided they keep to the two-person cap:
- Unvaccinated individuals with a valid negative pre-event test result,
- People who have recovered from Covid-19
- Children aged 12 years and below
The tightened measures are a response to the exponential rise in cases since the end of August which have put a strain on Singapore’s healthcare and response system.
From next Monday, Singapore will move from the Preparatory Stage of its Covid-19 recovery to a “Stabilisation Phase”.
“We will review the measures two weeks after implementation and adjust these based on the community situation then,” said MOH.
To support firms through this Stabilisation Phase, the government will introduce S$650 million (RM2 billion) worth of support measures.
“This will be funded from the higher-than-expected revenues collected to-date. There will be no further draw on past reserves,” MOH said.
Social gatherings
Households will be allowed to receive up to two unique visitors per day.
Individuals should continue to limit their overall number of social gatherings to not more than one per day, whether to another household, or meeting with friends and family members in a public place.
Work-from-home
As working from home will become the default arrangement, the 10-day snap work-from-home regime will be suspended.
There should continue to be no cross-deployment of workers to multiple worksites for those who need to return to their workplaces, MOH said.
Social gatherings at the workplace will continue to be disallowed.
“Employers should continue to implement flexible working hours and stagger the start times of employees who need to return to the workplace,” said MOH.
The ministry “strongly encouraged” employees, contractors, and vendors who are unable to work from home to test themselves weekly with an antigen rapid test kit to keep their workplace safe.
Those who are able to work from home but need to return to the workplace for ad-hoc reasons may do so after testing negative with an antigen rapid test before returning onsite.
Food and beverage establishments
Food and beverage (F&B) establishments that are unable to ensure that all dine-in patrons meet the criteria for full vaccination may only operate take-away and delivery services.
Entertainment such as live performances, recorded music, as well as the screening of videos and television programmes will continue to be prohibited.
“Patrons to F&B establishments are also reminded to adhere to all safe management measures and keep their masks on at all times except when eating or drinking,” said MOH.
Support measures for firms
For firms in sectors significantly affected by the tightened measures, the government will enhance the Jobs Support Scheme to provide support for 25 per cent of employees’ wages for the four-week period.
These include the F&B sector, retail, cinemas, museums, art galleries, historical sites, family entertainment, tourism, gyms and fitness studios, as well as performing arts and arts education.
These sectors had received JSS support of 10 per cent from August 19 to August 31.
MOH said on Friday that the government will also provide a two-week rental waiver for qualifying tenants on government-owned commercial properties.
Qualifying tenant-occupiers and owner-occupiers of privately-owned commercial properties will also be given a two-week rental relief cash payout under the Rental Support Scheme.
Cooked food and market stallholders in centres managed by the National Environment Agency (NEA) or NEA-appointed operators will receive a two-week rental waiver.
For taxi and private hire car drivers, the government will also extend the Covid-19 Driver Relief Fund payout at S$10 and S$5 per vehicle per day in October and November 2021 respectively. — TODAY
