More activities to resume as Covid-19 vaccines get offered to those aged 45 to 59

MORE employees will be allowed to return to the workplace from April 5, as Singapore takes steps to relax its Covid-19 measures, now that vaccines will be offered to younger age groups.

With immediate effect, those aged 45 to 59 can register for vaccination online, said Gan Kim Yong, Health Minister and co-chair of Singapore's Covid-19 task force.

This comes as more than 1.1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered as at March 23, with more than 799,000 individuals having received at least one dose of the vaccine, he said. About 310,000 individuals have received their second doses and completed the full vaccination regimen.

More than 55 per cent of seniors 60 years and above have received the vaccination or made appointments to do so, he added.

"A key factor in how fast we vaccinate our population is the supply of vaccines. We will continue to monitor our supplies closely, but we expect global supplies to remain tight, and supply chains may be disrupted from time to time, which will affect our pace of vaccination," he said.

The European Union is set to tighten vaccine export rules for the next six weeks to address supply shortages at home, say media reports.

Mr Gan said there will be enough vaccines for all Singapore residents by the third quarter of this year, as vaccine supplies continue to arrive on schedule. He added that 40,000 doses were administered a day last week, including second doses.

In the mean time, up to 75 per cent of employees who are presently able to work from home will be able to return to the workplace from April 5, up from the current 50 per cent, said Lawrence Wong, Education Minister and co-chair of the task force.

Split-team arrangements are no longer mandatory, but employers are still "strongly encouraged to stagger employees' start times and implement flexible working hours where possible, he added.

From April 24, participant cap on events will be further raised if organisers implement pre-event testing for their attendees. For example, pilot business-to-business events approved by the Singapore Tourism Board, live performances at designated venues and pilot spectator-sport events may have up to 750 attendees, from the current 250, if pre-event testing is implemented.

Individuals who have completed the full vaccination regimen can gain entry without the need for pre-event testing.

Mr Wong said Singapore should remain mentally prepared for any new challenges down the road, given that there have been many new "unpredictable threats" over the past year, such as new more infectious strains.

"We really should look forward with caution and continue to move forward in a controlled, deliberate and steady manner. Don't get too excited that things are under control and then we can quickly open everything - that will be rash and can easily undo all the good things that we have achieved so far," he said.

While Singapore reported 15 new imported cases on Wednesday, there have been no locally transmitted cases since March 12.