Updates to Safe Management Measures from 22 November 2021
Source: Ministry of Health Singapore
Increase in Social Gathering Group Size
From 22 November 2021, we will increase the permissible social gathering group size from 2 persons to 5 persons. The cap of 2 distinct visitors per household per day will correspondingly increase to 5 distinct visitors per household per day. As far as possible, we should accept only visitors who are vaccinated, so as to protect those who are unvaccinated from exposure to the virus. Unvaccinated individuals should also exercise caution and protect themselves by reducing their movement and staying at home as much as possible. In addition, visitors to households that have an unvaccinated person or vulnerable elderly are strongly encouraged to test themselves prior to the visit to ensure that they do not unwittingly transmit COVID-19 to those who are vulnerable.
Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures (VDS) for F&B settings
Groups of up to 5 persons, even if not from the same household, will be allowed to dine-in at Food and Beverage (F&B) establishments if all the diners are fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated children aged 12 years and below (i.e. born in 2009 or later) may be included within the group of 5 persons as long as all these children are from the same household. As previously announced, medically ineligible persons may also be included within such groups of 5 persons from 1 December 2021. Nevertheless, we caution medically ineligible persons of their susceptibility to severe illness if infected with COVID-19, and urge them to be careful despite such a concession.
In addition, groups of up to 5 persons will only be allowed to dine-in at hawker centres and coffee shops where full VDS checks have been implemented. The initial batch of hawker centres and coffee shops that are ready will start such checks from 23 November 2021, and more will do so when ready with access control and systems to perform vaccination checks at entry points. Otherwise, dining-in at hawker centres and coffee shops without full VDS checks will remain at groups of up to 2 fully vaccinated persons. Unvaccinated individuals are not allowed to dine-in and may continue to only take-away food from these establishments. The National Environment Agency (NEA) has been actively consulting the Hawkers’ Associations, and working with the Town Councils and NEA-appointed operators, to also implement access control with vaccination checks at entry points at the remaining hawker centres by the end of November 2021. NEA and the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) will share more details on the first group of hawker centres and coffeeshops.