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Access controls at hawker centres to allow fully vaccinated people from same household to eat in groups of 5

SINGAPORE — Fully vaccinated individuals from the same household can dine in groups of five at hawker centres once access control and checking systems have been put in place, with the first group of hawker centres expected to have these systems in place before the end of November.

The National Environment Agency has been engaging hawkers’ associations and town councils to look into setting up access control and checking systems, the Ministry of Health said.

The National Environment Agency has been engaging hawkers’ associations and town councils to look into setting up access control and checking systems, the Ministry of Health said.

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SINGAPORE — Fully vaccinated individuals from the same household can dine in groups of five at hawker centres once access control and checking systems have been put in place, with the first group of hawker centres expected to have these systems in place before the end of November.

The remaining hawker centres should then be able to follow soon after, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday (Nov 15).

For now, customers are only allowed to eat at hawker centres and coffee shops in groups of up to two, regardless of whether they are from the same household, because it is challenging to enforce vaccine-related controls in these settings.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) has been engaging the hawkers’ associations and town councils to look into setting up the access control and checking systems, MOH said in a statement.

​​”We had announced earlier that we will tighten the imposition of vaccination-differentiated safe management measures in hawker centres and coffee shops, as these are mask-off settings where the unvaccinated can get infected easily,” the ministry said.

“It is therefore important to have proper checks on vaccination status before someone enters a hawker centre or coffee shop, and to allow only those who are fully vaccinated to sit down to eat. This can make a very significant difference to our healthcare capacity, and especially intensive care unit occupancy.”

MOH added that for coffee shops, the Singapore Food Agency has similarly been engaging the operators and will provide them with the option of putting in place a system to control access and check the status of their patrons, to allow people from the same household to dine in groups of five.

Otherwise, the prevailing group size of two will apply.

For up to five people from the same household to eat out together, MOH added that it will expand the list of acceptable documents to check for proof of residence, from identity cards and Singpass mobile applications, to the following approved government digital apps: myICA and SGWorkPass.

COMMUNITY CASES

MOH reported that the week-on-week ratio of community cases has remained stable at around 0.8 to 1.0 this past week.

“We should expect the ratio to drift upwards as more restrictions are being relaxed and there are more social interactions,” it added. 

While daily case numbers continue to hover at around 3,000 a day, it noted that close to 99 per cent of cases continue to have mild or no symptoms and the vast majority are recovering well at home.

The proportion of patients who require oxygen support has held steady at 0.8 per cent of total cases and for those who need intensive care, it is at 0.3 per cent in the past 28 days.

The number of cases in the intensive care units remains high but stable in the past week at close to 130 cases a day, MOH said, adding that overall occupancy is about 63 per cent.

Related topics

Covid-19 coronavirus hawker centre coffee shop dining F&B vaccination

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