Singapore’s Reopening Takes a Step Back

Covid-19 measures will be tightened again from Thursday (July 22) to Aug 18, as the city-state tries to stem a spike in community cases.

Singapore is scaling down social gatherings to a maximum of two and banning dining out amid a spike in Covid-19 infections in the city-state that emerged from karaoke lounges and the city’s main fishery port, which has spread to 26 markets and food centers.

Based on the assessment on the way the cases have developed and the many clusters we are seeing, and how it is likely to have transmitted into the community, we have to put in place something to slow down the transmission, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who chairs the country’s Covid-19 task force, said in a press conference on Tuesday.

The number of new cases in the community has increased from 19 cases the week before, to over 500 cases in the past week, according to the Health Ministry.

A review of the long-awaited air travel bubble (ATB) between Singapore and Hong Kong was also pushed back to late August.

Both parties will remain in close contact and monitor the public health situation in both places before taking stock in late August on the ATB, Singapore’s Transport Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

The ATB was slated to launch in November 2020, but has been beset by numerous delays. Last week, Hong Kong lawmakers urged the government to scrap the arrangement, citing Singapore’s shift from a «Covid zero» strategy towards learning to live with the virus.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said the country is on track to achieve its target of having two-thirds of the population vaccinated before National Day, which falls on August 9.

Currently, 50 percent of the population is fully vaccinated, but 200,000 seniors have yet to take the jab.