Singapore reimposes restrictions in latest speed bump for ‘living with Covid’ plan
- Starting on Monday, diners will be limited to groups of two, and employers must allow staff to work from home if possible
- While the authorities are keen to relax rules as part of their blueprint, they do not want more deaths to be the price of reopening
The restrictions kick in on Monday and will last for a month, until October 24. Their resumption comes after authorities in the city state on August 10 allowed residents to eat in at restaurants, following the lifting of a previous round of restrictions.
The government had upped workplace capacity to 50 per cent of employees on August 19 as part of a slew of measures linked to a so-called living with Covid blueprint that was being operationalised following a successful vaccine roll-out.
Singapore has one of the world’s highest vaccination rates, with 82 per cent of its population fully inoculated.
Gan Kim Yong, co-chair of the virus task force, said in a Friday press conference that the reimposition of restrictions was a “very difficult decision” because of the impact on businesses and people.
He acknowledged that it would not immediately reduce the number of daily infections, but said it would “allow us to slow down the speed of increase and avoid overtaxing our health care workers”.