Mandatory Covid-19 testing from July for employees involved in ‘higher-risk, mask-off’ activities: MOH

SINGAPORE — From July, workers involved in “higher-risk” activities, during which masks are not worn, will have to undergo regular testing for Covid-19, starting with those working in food-and-beverage (F&B) establishments.

Under this “Regular Fast and Easy Testing” regime, these workers will have to regularly take a test such as the antigen rapid test, regardless of their vaccination status, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement on Thursday (June 10).

The sectors are:

• Dine-in F&B establishments

• Personal care and appearance services that require removal of masks such as facial services, saunas and make-up services

• Gyms and fitness studios where clients are unmasked

The move comes as Singapore moves to open up safely after a month of being in a heightened alert phase to arrest a rise in coronavirus infections and several clusters forming. This period is set to end on June 13.

MOH said that it will be aggressively ramping up fast and easy testing capacity in the coming months. 

This mandatory testing will be rolled out to larger establishments first, and extended to smaller businesses later.

For dine-in F&B establishments, the Government will roll out mandatory fast and easy testing progressively from next month onwards.

Details of the roll-out will be announced later.

EXTENSION OF SUPPORT MEASURES UNDER JOB SUPPORT SCHEME

The Government also announced on Thursday that it will extend the current enhancements to the Jobs Support Scheme for affected sectors until June 20, in light of the continued closure of various activities until then.

Previously on May 28, it said that it would provide 50 per cent of the wages for manpower for businesses such as gyms, fitness studios and performing arts, during the period of heightened alert from May 16 to June 13 through the Jobs Support Scheme. 

This level of support will be extended to the businesses until June 20. From June 20 to June 30, the affected sectors will receive a reduced amount of 10 per cent of JSS support.

For taxi and private hire car drivers, the Government will extend the Covid-19 Driver Relief Fund for three more months at S$300 a month per vehicle for two months, and S$150 a month per vehicle for the following month.