Streamlined Covid-19 measures were to have been implemented in stages from Feb 25 and Mar 4, to make it to make it easier for people to follow.
But their start has now been delayed because of the huge surge in daily cases, the Health Ministry announced on Thursday.
The Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) had announced on Feb 16 that existing Safe Management Measures were to be streamlined to a set of five core parameters to make it easier for everyone to understand and comply with.
These five parameters are group sizes, mask-wearing, workplace rules, safe distancing and capacity limits.
The move to streamline regulations was intended to preserve healthcare capacity while preparing the country for an eventual decrease in case numbers, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung had said on Feb 16.
“Given that we are still climbing the epidemic curve, today is not the time to announce any easing of restrictions,” he said. “It is, however, an important juncture to review in depth our current rules, and we have done so.”
But the recent record high Covid-19 daily cases recorded prompted a rethink of when the streamlining should start. Those moves would have entailed, among other things, allowing people at home to receive groups of five visitors at any one time, and social gatherings of up to five persons at workplaces.
They would also have involved adjustments to vaccination-differentiated safe management measures for unvaccinated children who are 12 and younger, and the resumption of team sports, said MOH.
“Given the current surge in daily cases, and the extensive work involved in going through the detailed rules across different settings, the MTF has reviewed the matter and has decided to consolidate and streamline the SMMs in one go instead,” said MOH.
Revised effective dates arexpected to be announced shortly. “In the meantime, we will keep to the current rules,” the ministry added.
MOH reported a record high of 26,032 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday (Feb 22) and issued a statement urging employers and others to refrain from further straining the healthcare system as it may be weeks before the Omicron wave peaks and subsides.
On Wednesday, a total of 20,312 new cases were reported, the second day in a row that daily cases topped 20,000. Seven deaths from Covid-19 complications were recorded that day/TISG