2-person cap for dine-in, high-risk indoor activities from July 19 to Aug 8 but 5-person limit stays for fully vaccinated

• There will be a two-person cap for people dining at eateries from July 19 to Aug 8
• Those fully vaccinated against Covid-19 may dine out, do high-intensity indoor unmasked workouts in groups of up to five
• The capacity of Singapore’s intensive care units will be a deciding factor in the country’s pandemic response, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said

SINGAPORE — From next Monday (July 19) to Aug 8, the Government will impose a two-person limit for people dining at eateries and taking part in other higher-risk indoor unmasked activities such as high-intensity exercise classes.

People who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will be allowed to continue with such activities in groups of up to five, the Government’s Covid-19 task force announced on Friday (July 16).

Fully vaccinated individuals may dine out in groups of that size only at eateries with mandatory SafeEntry contact-tracing systems, so that they may check on the vaccination status of patrons.

The Ministry of Health said that group sizes will be cut to two for all regardless of vaccination status at hawker centres, food courts and coffee shops, which generally do not impose compulsory SafeEntry check-ins.   

A person is fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving both doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty or Moderna vaccines. 

Unvaccinated children aged 12 and below from the same household will be allowed as part of the group of five.  

Children who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 and are not from the same household may still take part in such activities in the group of five, but they cannot make up more than half the group. 

These revised measures are a response to the spike in infections in the wider community, driven by a large coronavirus cluster involving karaoke television (KTV) lounges and clubs.  

Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force, said that people who are not fully vaccinated would be allowed to join a group of five provided that they have tested negative for Covid-19 on a pre-entry test or had fully recovered from Covid-19 and hence have immunity against the coronavirus. 

Those who have recovered from Covid-19 within the last 270 days will also be allowed to dine out in groups of up to five. 

While outdoor and indoor mask-on sports activities may continue in groups of up to five, those who are fully vaccinated may take part in indoor high-intensity unmasked workouts in groups of that size, for up to 30 in a class. 

Recovered Covid-19 patients or those with a negative coronavirus test result covering the length of the class will also be allowed to take part.

Such activities involving children aged 12 and under who are unvaccinated will be capped at two a group. 

At workplaces, social and recreational gatherings will be banned.

As for gatherings in households, they may continue to receive up to five visitors a day.

CLOSE WATCH ON THE CRITICALLY ILL

Separately, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, another task force co-chair, said that the capacity of Singapore’s intensive care units (ICUs) would be a deciding factor in the country’s pandemic response ahead. 

In the coming days, the Government will be keeping a close watch on the number of patients hospitalised with severe illness, he said. These would be patients who need oxygen support or treatment in the ICU.

Should the numbers start to rise steeply, that means Singapore would have to consider “significantly rolling back” the easing of infection control measures.

He said that age and a person’s vaccination status are key factors that cause the number of patients in ICUs to go up and people to fall very sick. 

On Friday, Singapore recorded 53 new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19, 32 of which were traced to the KTV cluster that has now burgeoned to 120 infections.

As of Thursday, there were 180 hospitalised Covid-19 patients.

Of these, seven needed oxygen aid and another was in critical condition under intensive care.