Singapore aims transition to a new normal by September

Singapore is looking at allowing more people to dine together from July 12 as part of a three-step plan for re-opening the economy, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung told the Straits Times in an interview, Bloomberg reports.

This relaxation for dining-in is less dependent on vaccination rates and more on whether clusters can be controlled.

Ong told the newspaper there won’t be a “big bang opening end of August or September, but a progressive one.”

Singapore could transit to a new normal by September, with leisure travel possible by the end of this year, Ong said.

Possible destinations for leisure level would be countries with high vaccination rates and experiencing downward trends in infection rates.

Ong reiterated half of the population will be fully vaccinated by the second half of July, suggesting this would be the next milestone for further easing

He also repeated the target for two-thirds of the population to be inoculated by National Day on August 9.

Ong told the Straits Times that masks will be the last of the measures to be reviewed. If mask requirements are removed, it would “perhaps be just for safer outdoor environments such as parks.”