Back to phase 2: What you can and cannot do from May 8 amid rising Covid-19 cases
Posted on 05 May 2021 | 11,884 views | 16 comments
Linette Lai
The Straits Times
May 4, 2021 Rules on social gatherings will be tightened starting this Saturday (May 8), as Singapore takes stricter measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the wider community. First, people will be allowed to gather only in groups of five, down from eight currently. These restrictions also apply to households, which will be able to receive only five distinct visitors a day, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Tuesday. In addition, more people will be required to work from home. Under the new rules, no more than 50 per cent of employees who are able to work from home should be in the office at any one time, down from 75 per cent at present.
Employers should also continue to stagger start times of employees who need to return to the workplace, and implement flexible working hours. Social gatherings at the office should be avoided as well.
These measures will be in place until May 30.
Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force tackling the pandemic, noted that the new restrictions will essentially see Singapore move back to phase two of its reopening. But this is not a circuit breaker, he stressed.
"We certainly hope not to have to invoke another circuit breaker," he said. "But we have proposed quite a stringent and tight set of measures, so that we can respond robustly and pre-emptively to the latest outbreak of clusters and do our best to snuff them out early, and reduce the likelihood of having to impose more drastic measures down the road."
Although the stricter measures kick in only this weekend, the minister urged Singaporeans to start doing their part with immediate effect.
This includes scaling back social interactions and getting vaccinated if medically eligible, he said.
Mr Wong noted that the authorities have tried their best to ring-fence the cases caused by Covid-19 variant strains through contact tracing, but "we must assume that there are still hidden cases out there in the community".
Safe management measures therefore have to be tightened across the board to address the risk posed by the variant strains, which are more infectious and likelier to cause large clusters of coronavirus cases, he added.
There is a good chance of getting the situation under control, if people follow the tightened measures that are in place till May 30, Mr Wong said.
The Straits Times
May 4, 2021 Rules on social gatherings will be tightened starting this Saturday (May 8), as Singapore takes stricter measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the wider community. First, people will be allowed to gather only in groups of five, down from eight currently. These restrictions also apply to households, which will be able to receive only five distinct visitors a day, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Tuesday.
Safe distancing measures inside Great Eastern's office on April 26, 2021. Under the new rules, no more than 50 per cent of employees who are able to work from home should be in the office at any one time. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Source:
The Straits Times
Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.