Singapore is to lift rules on indoor masking in most venues and ease quarantines for travelers who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 as the country scraps some of its last pandemic-era curbs after virus case numbers dropped.
Masks in indoor settings would no longer be mandatory from Monday, except for certain areas such as public transportation and healthcare facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, the Singaporean Ministry of Health said yesterday.
Mask wearing on private transportation modes, as well as school buses and taxis, would be optional, it said in a statement, confirming an announcement by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) in his annual National Day Rally speech on Sunday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We are in a much better position, but we certainly do not feel it is appropriate for us to throw caution to the wind and remove all our measures,” Singaporean Minister of Finance Lawrence Wong (黃循財) said yesterday.
Even if there is another surge in cases, the government would first study the nature of the wave before deciding whether new steps need to be implemented, he said.
Countries across the world, including some that previously had strict containment policies such as Australia, have been loathe to reimpose mask mandates even amid a resurgence in cases, while Thailand, a key tourist hub, ended them in June.
Hong Kong, which rivals Singapore as a financial hub, still has universal mask wearing rules in place and a three-day travel quarantine.
Singapore, on the other hand, has seen a surge in the number of visitors after it scrapped most of its pandemic measures including compulsory masking outdoors and tests for incoming vaccinated travelers.
Visitors who are not fully vaccinated entering Singapore from 11:59pm on Sunday would not need to quarantine, but would need to test negative within two days before traveling to the city-state.
While masks would no longer be required in airports, travelers would still need them on flights to and from places that require mask wearing on board.
Based on a recent serology study, about 70 percent of the city-state’s population has had COVID-19, Singaporean Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung (王乙康) said.
As of Tuesday, average daily cases over a seven-day period fell to 2,700, down from a peak of 10,200 in the middle of last month, and the number of daily hospital admissions has halved from a peak last month.
Singapore recommends a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot for children aged five to 11.
Authorities have said that they approved the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine for children as young as six months, and a decision by an advisory panel to administer the vaccine is expected soon.
Those aged 60 or older can also get a second booster dose as early as five months after their first booster.
The country is one of the most highly inoculated societies in the world against COVID-19, with 93 percent of its population having received two doses and nearly 80 percent having received a booster.
Authorities also said that vaccines capable of tackling the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 are being assessed for safety, and Singapore expects to receive supplies in the fourth quarter of this year.
Pfizer and BioNTech this week asked the US to authorize their new COVID-19 booster vaccine customized against currently circulating strains, while the UK earlier this month became the first country to approve a shot targeting two COVID-19 variants that emerged recently.
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