Singapore ― Stricter restrictions such as reducing group size for dining-in at food and beverage (F&B) outlets and work from home being the default were announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (Sept 24).
Amid Singapore’s attempt to become a Covid-19 resilient nation and ramped up efforts to manage transmissions, MOH noted that daily cases started to rise exponentially at the end of August 2021.
“While the number of Covid-positive individuals who become severely ill remains within expectations, the number of individuals with mild symptoms has increased very rapidly.”
“This has put a strain on our overall healthcare and response system and on our healthcare workers, as many Covid-positive individuals with mild symptoms are seeking medical attention at our hospitals when it might not be necessary,” said MOH.
If the infections continue at its current trajectory, we can expect to reach a daily count of 3,200 and beyond within the next two weeks, said MOH.
As a result, stricter restrictions were announced on Friday. They will take place beginning Monday (Sept 27) until Oct 24, 2021.
Permissible group sizes for social gatherings will be reduced from a maximum of five persons to two persons, while the number of unique visitors per household will also be reduced to two per day.
Home-based learning will also be extended until Oct 7, 2021.
For businesses, work from home (WFH) will be the default for employees able to do so, thus suspending the previously imposed 10-day snap WFH regime.
Groups of up to 2 persons, down from the current limit of five persons, will be allowed to dine-in at regular F&B establishments if all diners are fully vaccinated.
A complete list of the changes in restrictions can be found here.
“At some point, this wave of infection will crest, but we don’t know what the daily numbers will be at the peak or when this crest will happen,” said Mr Wong in a multi-ministry task force for Covid-19 press conference on Friday.
In response to the news, members from the online community expressed disappointment at how the situation was handled.
“The task force now then realised? Didn’t they expect the cases to keep going up (even till 5,000 per day, they mentioned)?” asked Facebook user Jaycee Cai.
“Wanna move to endemic stage but how many 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 cases per day can we cope in Singapore, unlike those bigger countries? Burning our healthcare frontliners and risking our pioneer generation, also already can’t cope with the recent surge of 1k+ cases. Where’s the plan???” the netizen added.
Others highlighted that previous methods appear to be insufficient in managing transmissions. “Obviously, all methods have failed to contain this current wave,” said Facebook user Jeremy Tan, noting a lockdown might be necessary.
“As much as I disagree, I believe we should shut down the border for two weeks as well to stabilise the viral infection rate within the country. At the same time, the MTF should provide stringent enforcements on businesses such as pubs, KTVs which claims to revert to “F&B” outlets. Popular locations such as parks, MRT stations, etc., which are well known for “gathering sessions” should be enforced as well,” added Facebook user Ash Burn.
Meanwhile, many noted that the government was doing its best, noting “it’s not an easy decision for all.”
“Only self-discipline able to save own self and others and help to slow down the growth of cases if want to live. Don’t keep blaming the government,” said Facebook user Florence Tan. /TISG
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