Singapore May Allow 500 Fully Vaccinated Person In An Event By End Of July

By Massita Ahmad SINGAPORE, July 7 (Bernama) -- Singapore may allow a group up to 500 fully vaccinated persons to attend activities or venues end of this month, according to the republic’s Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) on COVID-19 today. However, the MTF said it is on condition that the situation continues to be stable and when at least half of the population have completed the full COVID-19 vaccination regimen. The activities or venues include cinemas, congregational worship, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) events, live performances, spectator sports and wedding solemnisations. “We expect 50 percent of our population who have received two doses of vaccines around the week of 26 July. By then I think we can open up (economic and social activities) even further,” said Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung during a virtual press conference here. Ong who is also the MTF’s co chair said it will also be timely for Singapore to have a more definitive roadmap to transit towards endemic COVID-19 after reaching the 50 per cent vaccination milestone. “As of now, our coverage is still close to 40 per cent for two doses. We are still cautious,” he said. Besides larger attendees of 500 fully vaccinated persons, the MTF is also looking for a social gathering group size to be increased to eight persons by end of this month. For higher-risk, indoor mask-off activities such as food & beverages (F&B) dine-in, the MTF said a group size of up to eight persons may be allowed only for fully vaccinated persons, otherwise the group size will remain at five persons. Among others, at the virtual press conference, the MTF today announced that from July 12, a group of up to five persons will be able to dine-in at F&B establishments. Wedding receptions may also resume with no more than 250 persons allowed with Pre-Event Testing (PET) while gyms and fitness studios may conduct indoor mask-off sports or exercise activities in group size of up to five persons. Work-from-home, meanwhile, will continue to remain the default arrangement so as to reduce overall interaction within workplaces and on public transport, it said. As of July 5, Singapore has administered a total of 5,858,571 doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme. The total number of doses administered was 5,858,571, covering 3,670,862 individuals of whom 2,187,709 individuals have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen. -- BERNAMA