Household members dining-in in groups of 5, team sports could be allowed if Covid-19 weekly infection growth rate slows: Lawrence Wong

SINGAPORE — Household members dining in together in groups of five, team sports and school activities could be allowed if the “key indicator” of weekly infection growth rate slows, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said on Saturday (Oct 23).

Mr Wong, who is also the co-chair of the national Covid-19 task force, said that curbs could be eased for these three areas in the coming weeks, even though restrictions under the stabilisation phase were recently extended by a month to Nov 21.  

In a press release, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that it is closely monitoring “several key indicators” and will adjust the current stabilisation measures accordingly. The ministry noted that the task force had earlier highlighted that the stabilisation measures will not remain static. 

In particular, MOH said that it is monitoring the weekly infection growth rate — the ratio of community cases in the past week over the week before — which is now slightly above 1. This means that infections are continuing to rise and putting pressure on the healthcare system, it added.

At a press conference, Mr Wong said that if this ratio drops below 1, and the situation at hospitals and intensive care units (ICUs) remains stable, the task force will consider some “calibrated” easing of measures in the three areas.

First, the task force will look at allowing selected group sports — such as five-a-side football or other contact sports.

Second, it will allow school activities to resume with appropriate safeguards.

Third, it will allow members from the same households to dine together at food-and-beverage (F&B) establishments in groups of up to five.

“These are calibrated moves where we assess the risks to be acceptable. For example, with activities in schools and institutes of higher learning, many of these activities are masked up so we think the risks are acceptable,” he said.

“Where sports are concerned, they do not have masks on and there are people interacting closely together, especially in contact sports, but we can mitigate the risk by requiring the participants to do an antigen rapid test before participating in the activity.”

Dining out at eateries is also a high-risk activity but if the diners are all from the same household, the risk can be mitigated, he added.

“Then it’s an issue of enforcement — how do we ensure that this rule is complied with strictly? So that’s something we are looking at. But potentially, these are the three (for the) next batch of easing we are looking at, subject to the conditions I highlighted.”

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NO EASING OF CURBS ACROSS THE BOARD

However, Mr Wong stressed that measures will not be eased across the board, such as allowing groups of five people not from the same household to dine at F&B establishments together, before the stabilisation phase ends.

This is because such a move would cause Covid-19 cases to rise sharply.

“There is no doubt this would cause a resurgence of cases. And we have to ask ourselves, if this were to happen, what would we do when our ICU facilities get fully occupied?” he said, noting that two-thirds of these facilities are already occupied now by Covid-19 and non-Covid-19 patients.

He reiterated: “We want to protect our healthcare system and healthcare workers.”

However, he noted that “at some point, the wave will peak and day by day, week by week, we are getting better protection through natural immunity and booster shots”.

“This will allow us to continue with our path of easing without seeing another surge in cases, so we can have confidence that this path of reopening and living with Covid will be followed through in the coming weeks and months.”   

In a Facebook post on Saturday night, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong weighed in on the current situation as well, saying that many have written to express their frustrations about the restrictions, while others have voiced concerns that Singapore is opening up too fast. 

"I fully understand how you feel. It has been a long journey, and the continuing uncertainty and disruption is hard on all of us. Some sectors – like F&B – have had an exceptionally tough time," he noted.

"But we can neither lockdown indefinitely and stand still, nor can we simply let go and let things rip. We have to travel this road to get to living safely with Covid-19. We want to get there with as few casualties as possible."   The course which the task force is setting reflects the Government's judgment on how best to do this, Mr Lee added.   CLARIFICATION: An earlier version of this article said that the Ministry of Health was monitoring the weekly infection rate as a key indicator. The ministry has clarified that this should be the weekly infection growth rate.