Mask-wearing to be optional indoors, except on public transport and in healthcare settings

WITH Singapore’s Covid-19 situation stabilising, the wearing of masks indoors will soon be made optional, except when travelling on public transport and in healthcare settings, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech on Sunday (Aug 21) evening.

The announcement comes nearly 5 months after the government lifted the mandate on mask-wearing outdoors, as part of a slew of measures to ease pandemic restrictions.

The exact details of the further easing of mask-wearing will be announced by the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Covid-19 at a later date, said PM Lee, as he reminded people to continue to keep their masks on when indoors for now.

He said that masks will continue to be mandatory on public transport, as people are in prolonged close contact in a crowded space. Likewise for healthcare settings such as clinics, hospitals, and residential and nursing homes, where there are vulnerable people in those environments.

“Everywhere else, outdoors or indoors, masks will be optional. For schools in particular, we should not need masks in class,” he said. “Children do need to be able to see the facial expressions of their teachers and of each other... It’s crucial for their learning and development,” he said.

Apart from the upcoming easing of wearing masks indoors, there will be no change to the other existing Covid-19 safe management measure, which is the rule that a person must be fully vaccinated to be at higher-risk settings such as large events and dining in at food and beverage establishments.

GET BT IN YOUR INBOX DAILY

Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.

Sign UpVIEW ALL

In his speech, Lee also announced a new special state award called the Covid-19 Resilience Medal, to recognise individuals and teams “who participated directly fighting Covid-19 during the pandemic”.

The awards list will be announced at the end of the year, with in-person award ceremonies to follow next year.

Singapore’s collective efforts to deal with the pandemic have saved many lives, said PM Lee, with the country recording fewer than 1,600 Covid-related deaths to date.

“Every death is one too many. But if our mortality had been like other countries, we could easily have suffered 10,000 Covid-19 deaths, or more,” he said.

Click here for the full list of stories from the National Day Rally 2022.