Advertisement

Singapore expands dine-in, social gathering sizes to 5 from 22 Nov

SINGAPORE — From Monday (22 November), social gathering and dine in group sizes of up to five individuals, regardless of household, will be allowed, ending almost two months of restrictions that only allowed gatherings of up to two individuals.

Dining in at food and beverage (F&B) establishments continues to be for fully vaccinated individuals only. Children aged 12 years and below, recovered individuals, and unvaccinated individuals with a valid negative pre-event test (PET) result can be included in the group of five.

However, for hawker centres and coffee shops, only those which have implemented full checks for vaccination status will be allowed to host groups of up to five who are not from the same household. The initial batch of 11 hawker centres and seven coffee shops that are ready will start such checks from Tuesday. Otherwise, dining-in at such venues without full checks will remain at groups of up to two fully vaccinated persons.

Unvaccinated individuals are not allowed to dine in and can only take away food from F&B establishments, said the multi-ministry task force on COVID-19 (MTF) on Saturday (20 November).

The initial batch of hawker centres and coffee shops are:

  • Hawker centres: Bedok Food Centre, Beo Crescent Market, Geylang Serai Market, Holland Village Market & Food Centre, Market Street Interim Food Centre, Sembawang Hills Food Centre, Tiong Bahru Market, Kampung Admiralty Hawker Centre, Ci Yuan Hawker Centre, Hawker Centre@Our Tampines Hub, Pasir Ris Central Hawker Centre.

  • Coffee shops: Barfood & Co (1 Cantonment Road), Goodyear Restaurant (15 Tampines Avenue), Qi Yiang (973 Upper Serangoon Road), B4RI (362 Tanjong Katong Road), The Patio (1018, Sembawang Road), Satay By The Bay (Gardens By The Bay), Makansutra Gluttons Bay (Esplanade Mall).

Finance Minister and MTF co-chair Lawrence Wong told reporters at a virtual media briefing, "We will try our very best to avoid having to throttle back any measures or to avoid reversal of our moves towards easing. But we need everyone's cooperation to ensure that we can continue to move forward in a steady manner."

From last Wednesday, up to five vaccinated diners from the same household were allowed to eat at the same table at F&B outlets.

From Monday, households will also be allowed to host up to five distinct visitors per household per day. However, these visitors, as far as possible, should be vaccinated.

"Visitors to households that have an unvaccinated person or vulnerable elderly are strongly encouraged to test themselves prior to the visit to ensure that they do not unwittingly transmit COVID-19 to those who are vulnerable," said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Meanwhile, unvaccinated children aged 12 and below may be included in dining groups of up to five provided they are from the same household. As previously announced, medically ineligible persons may also be included within such groups from 1 December.

Separately, the National Environment Agency has been actively consulting the hawkers’ associations, and working with the Town Councils and NEA-appointed operators, to also implement access control with vaccination checks at entry points at the remaining hawker centres by the end of November 2021.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore