Up to five fully vaccinated people from the same household can dine as a group at restaurants from Nov 10, as "the overall situation has stabilised", says co-chair of the multi-ministry task force Gan Kim Yong.
However, this does not apply to coffee shops and hawker centres, where the cap remains at two fully vaccinated people.
While live music and entertainment will remain banned, F&B establishments will be allowed to play "soft recorded music" from Nov 10.
There is no change to the group size of social gatherings, which will remain at two persons. Households can still have only two unique visitors a day.
See: Singapore, Malaysia to launch vaccinated travel lane from Nov 29
“The week-on-week ratio of infections has come down to below one over the last few days, and it was at 0.81 as of Nov 7. The number of cases in hospitals and the proportion of cases with serious illness has also remained stable,” says Gan.
See also: BioNTech beats estimates as vaccine maker pursues more diseases
Aside, people who are unvaccinated by choice and test positive for Covid-19 will have to foot their own medical bills from Dec 8. This includes those who are admitted to hospitals and Covid-19 treatment facilities.
"Billing will still be based on our current subsidy framework, subject to MediSave use and MediShield Life claims, so it will still be highly supported and highly subsidised," says Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.
"Our hospitals really much prefer not to have to bill these patients at all," adds Ong. "But we have to send this important signal to urge everyone to get vaccinated if they are eligible."
See also: Covid-19 global health emergency is over after three years: WHO
The government will continue to cover bills for those who are medically ineligible for vaccination, as well as for children aged under 12.
Earlier on Nov 8, Singapore and Malaysia announced a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) between Changi Airport and Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Nov 29.
This will allow fully vaccinated travellers to travel between Singapore and Malaysia, where they will undergo Covid-19 tests in lieu of serving quarantine or Stay-Home Notice.
Singapore has extended the VTL scheme with 13 countries, namely: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Switzerland, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea, the UK, the Netherlands, Spain and the US.
Photo: Bloomberg
