Updated travel tier system for Singapore announced; continued easing of local restrictions

Source: gov.sg

In the latest announcements on 19 August 2021 from Singapore's Multi-Ministry Taskforce, a new tier system of country travel restrictions was announced along with a status update on the vaccination rollout and local restrictions. The details are summarised below for ease of understanding.
 

The Vaccination Rollout

As of 17 August, 77% of the population has completed their full regimen of COVID-19 vaccines, and 82% has received at least one dose. Among the infected cases, almost 9% of the unvaccinated needed intensive care or oxygen supplementation and around 1% were deceased, whereas only 1.3% and 0.1% respectively of the vaccinated did so.

Local Restrictions to be Eased from 19 August

Here's what you can or cannot do from 19 August:

F&B ESTABLISHMENTS (excluding coffeeshops and hawker centres)

• All vaccinated^ : 5 per group^^.
• Unvaccinated: No dining-in without PET. Take a PET at an MOH-approved test provider

COFFEESHOPS AND HAWKER CENTRES

• Up to 2 per group, regardless of vaccination status. 

CONGREGATIONAL & WORSHIP SERVICES

• All vaccinated^ : 1,000 worshippers
• Unvaccinated: 50 attendees without PET
• Provision for children applies^^.
• Unmasking and singing or playing of wind instruments allowed, subject to safe management measures. 

LIVE PERFORMANCES, MICE,  SPECTATOR & PARTICIPATORY SPORTS EVENTS

• All vaccinated^ : 1,000 attendees
• Unvaccinated: 50 attendees without PET
• Group size limited to 5 persons^^.
• Unmasking and singing or playing of wind instruments at live performances for vaccinated performers allowed.

MARRIAGE SOLEMNISATIONS

• All vaccinated^ : 1,000 attendees
• Unvaccinated: 50 attendees without PET
• Group size limited to 5 persons.^^ 

WEDDING RECEPTIONS

• All vaccinated^ : 250 attendees
• Group size limited to 5 persons^^.
• 1 reception only. 

HOUSEHOLD VISITS

• Up to 5 unique visitors per day (Cap on visitors does not apply to grandchildren being cared for by grandparents)

OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES

• Mask-on or mask-off : 5 per group regardless of vaccination status. Details in SportSG’s advisory.

GYMS & FITNESS STUDIOS

• Mask-off : All vaccinated^: 5 per group. Details in SportSG’s advisory.

SOCIAL GATHERINGS

• Public places: Up to 5 persons per group and maximum 2 gatherings a day. 

IN-PERSON TUITION & ENRICHMENT CLASSES

• Up to 50 persons per class, in groups of up to 5 persons.

WORKPLACES

• Up to 50% of employees allowed to return to the workplace. Social gatherings allowed. See MOM’s advisory here. 

HOME-BASED BUSINESSES

• Subject to safe management measures.
• Up to 5 unique visitors per day.

^Vaccinated: Fully vaccinated i.e. has received the full regimen of Pfizer/BioNTech Comirnaty, Moderna or WHO Emergency Use List (EUL) vaccines, with an additional two weeks for the vaccine to be fully effective.
^^ If there is more than one child (12 and below) in the group, all children must be from the same household. Other vaccinated individuals can be from different households as the child(ren). For large scale events, the number of children is capped at 20% of the actual event size.

Pilot for a home-centric care model for the management of COVID-19 patients with mild or no symptoms

The MOH will pilot the Home Isolation model for medically stable COVID-19 patients from 30 August 2021. The patients and their household members must both be fully vaccinated and must not belong to any vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or immunocompromised. These patients will spend the first few days in a medical facility, before moving to home isolation. By then, the viral loads of vaccinated patients would have dropped. During Home Isolation, the patients and their household members are required to remain in their place of residence, and this will be tracked through electronic monitoring and surveillance checks through phone calls. The patients will be closely monitored for their health and safety during this time and will be provided with access to 24/7 telemedicine services. They will also be subject to a PCR swab on the ninth day of illness to determine if they could be discharged from isolation, provided their swab result is negative or if they carry a very low viral load. All household members will need to be fully vaccinated, come under home quarantine, and also be placed on a daily ART testing regimen for early detection of potential infection. MOH will closely monitor the pilot’s outcomes and study if more patients may benefit from this mode of recovery in a safe manner.

Travel Tier System

Countries/ regions will be classified in one of four categories, each with differentiated border measures, premised on a traveller’s 21-day travel history prior to their entry into Singapore. If the traveller visits or transits through countries/ regions in different categories, the most stringent set of requirements among those countries/ regions will apply.

Pilot for a Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL)

Beyond the above tier framework, a new Vaccinated Travel Lane will facilitate fully vaccinated persons to travel into Singapore under reduced border measures. Put simply, the VTL pilot provides for a limited number of non-stop designated flights of vaccinated individuals travelling for any purpose, who will not have to serve a SHN, but will have to undergo extensive testing. Singaporean Citizens and permanent residents will not need to apply for a pass to use a VTL (but are subject to all other conditions), whereas pass holders will need to apply for a Vaccinated Travel Pass (VTP) between 7 and 30 days before their intended date of entry into Singapore.

The pilot will begin with Brunei and Germany (both Tier 2 countries) from 1 September, at which time applications will open for any necessary passes. 

Recognising Overseas Vaccinations

From 21 August ICA will issue a tamper-proof vaccination sticker to be affixed onto the passport of newly arrived travellers who were fully vaccinated overseas with a WHO-Emergency Use Listing (EUL) vaccine, and who can furnish a valid, English-language vaccination certificate. These travellers will be eligible for vaccination-differentiated safe management measures if they produce their passport with the valid tamper-proof sticker affixed.

To obtain this sticker, travellers should produce their English-language vaccination certificates to ICA officers at the Singapore immigration checkpoints upon arrival.

By September, the IT systems will also be enhanced so that travellers, upon verification of their eligible vaccination status at entry, will also be recognised by the SafeEntry Business app through their TraceTogether Apps/Tokens to be eligible for vaccination-differentiated safe management measures.