Lion City ditches indoor masks

Singapore will do away with requirements to wear masks indoors starting tomorrow as the country sees its Covid situation stabilizing further.

So for the first time in more than two years people will no longer be required to wear masks except on public transport and in high-risk settings including health-care facilities.

Health authorities also updated rules for nonvaccinated travelers, dropping a seven-day quarantine requirement starting next week.

They lifted most pandemic curbs, including travel restrictions, earlier this year.

About 70 percent of the 5.5 million population has already contracted Covid, health minister Ong Ye Kung said in a briefing yesterday. He described that reinfection rate as being "very low."

Singapore has vaccinated more than 90 percent of its population and has among the lowest Covid mortality rates in the world.

China, meanwhile, is easing tight restrictions on visas after it largely suspended issuing them to foreign students and others more than two years ago at the start of the pandemic.

Beijing's embassy in New Delhi announced online that the updated procedures would take effect immediately, without making a specific mention of vaccine requirements or proof of a negative test for the virus.

China still requires that those arriving from abroad be quarantined at a hotel or private home and proof of a negative test is required for entry to many public and commercial spaces.

The easing of visa restrictions is significant for Indian students, especially those pursuing degrees in medicine that are far more affordable in China than in Western nations.

For students who return to China to resume studies, a Certificate of Returning to Campus issued by a university is required, the embassy said.

The Chinese embassy in Washington also posted a notice on the new rules for students and others.

Similar notes were posted on the websites of other Chinese embassies and consulates including in Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Japan and the northern English city of Manchester.

Sporadic outbreaks continue to occur in China, including in far-flung regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang.

But most were asymptomatic and no additional deaths on top of a tally of 5,226 were reported. Of the 1,744 cases on Tuesday 413 were symptomatic and 1,331 asymptomatic.