Grace period of one week to be given before entry rules on unvaccinated people kick in

[SINGAPORE] There will be a one-week grace period from Oct 13 to Oct 19 for mall operators and others to become familiar with differentiated safe management measures to be implemented in malls.

These include a framework to allow unvaccinated people from getting access to childcare and medical services in these buildings.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) said in a statement on Sunday (Oct 10) that they are aware of concerns raised by the public on the need for some unvaccinated individuals to access medical and childcare related services in the malls.

"We would like to assure members of the public that MTI and ESG are working closely with mall operators to allow tenants, mall operators and the public to familiarise themselves with the new processes and checks," they said.

Last Saturday, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Covid-19 announced an expansion of vaccination-differentiated safe management measures which prevented unvaccinated people from dining in and entering shopping malls and standalone stores.

The taskforce said the measures come into effect on Oct 13 and are to protect unvaccinated people and reduce the strain on Singapore's healthcare system. More details will be provided by the authorities before Oct 13.

"We seek everyone's support to observe safe management measures and cooperate with the malls as they implement the safe management measures. This will help lower transmission risks and slow down the pace of community infections in this Stabilisation Phase," MTI, MOH and ESG said in the joint statement.

THE STRAITS TIMES