Singapore remains in preparatory stage, no further loosening of Covid-19 curbs for now
SINGAPORE is staying within its preparatory stage of transiting to endemic Covid-19, with no loosening of measures for now, the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 announced on Friday evening.
Community cases have been rising since late August, with 216 new locally-transmitted cases reported on Friday. Though an increase had been expected as curbs were loosened, there is a need to monitor the situation to "avoid a significant and sustained surge", said Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, who co-chairs the taskforce.
Singapore will thus stay in the preparatory stage and maintain current safe management measures for now, to allow authorities to monitor the situation and ensure it remains under control before reopening further, he said.
Previously-announced pilots will continue, such as Vaccinated Travel Lanes for travellers from Germany and Brunei, and the home recovery scheme for infected individuals with mild or no symptoms.
Taskforce co-chair and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong noted that in the past, such high daily cases would have prompted a tightening of measures.
But Singapore is now in a new phase with a high level of vaccination protection, he said. "And so we assess that there is no need to impose heghtened restrictions."
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"In fact, we would only revert to such a tightened posture as a last resort to prevent our hospital system from being overwhelmed," he added.
Mr Gan noted that as more social and economic activities resume, Singapore can expect transmission to increase, and will have to step up testing efforts to detect cases earlier and faster.
Vaccination and testing thus remain the key engines in the journey towards Covid resilience, he said. A vaccine booster programme will be rolled out in September for the elderly and the immunocompromised.
On the testing front, the tripartite partners will discuss further guidelines to promote the use of antigen rapid tests at workplaces and as part of business continuity plans; and testing facilities will be made more accessible to the general public.
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