11 hawker centres to allow groups of 5 from different households to dine in from Nov 23

[SINGAPORE] Eleven hawker centres and seven coffee shops will allow groups of up to 5 vaccinated people from different households to dine in from Tuesday (Nov 23).

These establishments have been identified as being able to control access as well as conduct checks on the vaccination status of their customers, among other things, and more will join the list once they are able to do so as well, said the National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Food Agency (SFA) on Saturday (Nov 20).

The following hawker centres are part of the initial batch: Bedok Food Centre, Beo Crescent Market, Geylang Serai Market, Holland Village Market and Food Centre, Market Street Interim Hawker Centre, Sembawang Hills Food Centre, Tiong Bahru Market, Kampung Admiralty Hawker Centre, Ci Yuan Hawker Centre, Hawker Centre @ Our Tampines Hub and Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre.

The remaining hawker centres under NEA and NEA-appointed operators will have entry and vaccination checks by Nov 30 and be open to groups of 5 from different households.

This comes as the multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 announced that from Monday, groups of up to 5 vaccinated people from different households will be allowed to dine at food and beverage outlets as the Covid-19 situation here is stable and infection numbers are decreasing.

Hawker centre patrons can either show the staff manning the access points their vaccination status on the TraceTogether app, or scan their TraceTogether token.

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Fully vaccinated people or those who are eligible for dining at hawker centres will be given a sticker for identification, while those who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated can only purchase food to take away. Eligible people include children aged 12 and below and individuals who have recovered from Covid-19.

Individual stallholders do not need to check patrons' vaccination status, said NEA.

The seven coffee shops that will follow the new rules from Tuesday are Barfood & Co at 1 Cantonment Road, Goodyear Restaurant Enterprise at 15 Tampines Avenue, Qi Xiang at 973 Upper Serangoon Road, B4RI at 362 Tanjong Katong Road, The Patio at 1018 Sembawang Road, Satay By The Bay at Gardens By The Bay and Makansutra Gluttons Bay at Esplanade Mall.

These coffee shops must control access to their premises by cordoning off areas and have dedicated entry points. Operators should ensure that access to common areas, such as the 5-foot walkways in front of certain coffee shops, is not obstructed, said SFA.

At the entry points, coffee shops must check the vaccination status of all patrons, and differentiate patrons who are fully vaccinated and dining in.

Other coffee shops can come on board when they have put in place the necessary control measures.

Safe distancing enforcement officers and ambassadors deployed by SFA will continue to conduct regular checks at all coffee shops to ensure that safe management measures are observed.

For coffee shops that allow dine-in groups of up to 5 fully vaccinated people, enforcement action will be taken if they do not have the required measures in place, said SFA.

The authorities also encouraged seniors to minimise dining activity at hawker centres and coffee shops, and opt to take away food instead.