The COVID-19 vaccination programme is being progressively rolled out to all Singaporeans and long-term residents.
The Ministry of Health announced that they have extended the vaccination programme to Singapore citizens aged 12 to 39 years old. For individuals who have had an earlier Covid-19 infection from over six months ago are also recommended to receive a single dose of vaccine to boost their immunity against reinfection.
Those who fall in the above groups can register for Covid-19 vaccination from 11 June 2021. For individuals below 18 years of age, and who are not part of the MOE vaccination exercise, the parent/guardian should register on behalf of the individual.
We hope you’ve had a meaningful time spent with your loved ones over the Christmas break. As the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF) announced earlier this month, Singapore will transition to phase 3 starting from Monday, 28 December.
There are also enough testing capabilities now, specifically for the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, where Singapore can do over 50,000 a day. Besides, rapid antigen tests are also in place for higher-risk events.
Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan said: “We’ve gone past the 70 per cent participation rate in TraceTogether. There have been more than 2 million people who have downloaded the app and have registered and are using it.”
Changes to note in the activities from 28 December
Image Credits: NUS News
Social gatherings
The number allowed for groups will be up from the current figure of 5 to 8. This also includes households where up to 8 visitors can be present at any point in time. Sport Singapore (SportSG) also announced recently that groups of up to eight people could gather for sports activities.
Marriage solemnisation
The hosting household can invite up to eight other people, not including members of the hosting family, the solemniser, and vendors.
Capacity limits of premises
In phase 3, malls and large standalone stores will increase their capacity limit from 10 square metres per person to 8 square metres per person. Attractions with approval from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) can also increase their operating capacity to 65%.
Congregational and other worship services
With the successful pilots by selected Religious Organisations (ROs) since 3 October, all ROs can now raise their capacity to up to 250 persons. For congregational services, they have to segregate the community in zones of up to 50 persons each. ROs can also include live performance elements with proper safety management measures in place.
Live instrumental music for certain activities
Speaking of live performances, indoor marriage solemnisation, funerals, and funerary-related activities can also allow that. But there is currently a ban on wind instruments.
Regulations on live performances
Singapore residents can look forward to more indoor live performances of 250 persons in zones of up to 50 persons each in phase 3. Outdoor live performance pilots will also follow suit with the respective person and zone limits. Vendors must continue to manage performances and gathering of crowds safely.
Apart from the abovementioned activities, the MTF will continue trials on higher-risk projects such as karaoke, nightlife events, and busking & live performances in outdoor venues throughout phase 3.
“We must not become complacent and must continue to remain vigilant; otherwise, our individual and collective sacrifices over the past year will be in vain,” the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment commented on 24 December.
TraceTogether is a digital system, which the Singaporean Government had implemented to allow for better contact tracing in response to the effects of the pandemic in the country. The system was originally designed as an app and was later supplemented by a physical token due to the low-usage of the TraceTogether app.
October 26 (Monday) marked the start of the mandatory use of TraceTogether app or token at all Singapore cinemas. Venues with activities that involve larger groups of people will follow the same mandate. By the end of December, checking-in with the TraceTogether app or token will be compulsory in public venues such as restaurants, workplaces, schools, cinemas, hotels, healthcare facilities, and shopping malls.
This means that you will no longer be able to gain access to these places through the SingPass mobile app or by scanning SafeEntry QR codes with your phone’s camera. Instead, you can either use the TraceTogether app or token. The former includes a function for users to scan SafeEntry QR codes that are displayed at venues. The latter comes with a QR code that can be scanned for entry. Please do not cover the QR code attached to your token.
In the recent days, Singapore has hit about 50% participation rate in its digital COVID-19 contact tracing program. This is good news because having 70% of Singapore’s population using TraceTogether is one of the conditions that has to be met for Singapore to enter phase three. This is according to Education Minister Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the COVID-19 task force.
Before you collect your token at the community centre (CC), please check token.gowhere.gov.sg to know its availability. To prevent long queues from forming, members of the public have been encouraged to collect their TraceTogether tokens from the CC nearest to where they live. There is no need to collect a physical token, if you already have the TraceTogether app. You may download the latest version of the app at tracetogether.gov.sg.
Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan also highlighted that there will be more than enough TraceTogether tokens for everyone. These tokens can be collected at thirty-eight CCs around the country. It will be made available at all 108 CCs by the end of November.
Once you receive your token, check its light. The green light blinks, if your token is working. It should blink once every minute. Its battery lasts for six months and is not rechargeable. You may “dress-up” your token by putting your old first-generation AirPods case. It will fit nicely on that.
Image Credits: Putri Shaghira via Facebook
Lastly, the data stored in your token will be automatically deleted after twenty-five days. There will be room for more information.
TraceTogether tokens will be distributed to all Singapore residents from Sep 14. Residents in the Jalan Besar and Tanjong Pagar regions will be the first to receive the tokens from Sep 14.
This is due to the presence of more elderly people in the two mentioned areas. The Ministry of Health (MOH) explained that the older folks may have more challenges using the TraceTogether app and are more vulnerable to COVID-19, thus the move to start with the selected regions first. In fact, about 10,000 senior citizens have already received these tokens at the end of June.
Collection points will be available throughout Singapore gradually.
Adding on to SafeEntry to enhance safety
Image Credits: Gov.sg
“Supplementing SafeEntry with proximity data from TT (TraceTogether) will enhance safety for participants, as they will be ensured of coverage under the TT programme,” MOH wrote in their press release.
“This will ensure better confidence in mitigating the risk of formation of large clusters, and could allow for a safer increase in capacity limits at these events and premises with any potential future easing of measures,” the ministry added.
More trials to start progressively from October
The deployment of SafeEntry that requires the use of either the TraceTogether app or token to check-in at venues was tested at Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) events last month.
Singapore residents can expect more trials next month onwards at larger-scale business events, F&B outlets, cinemas, gyms, and at certain workplaces.
To comply with the measures, one has to scan the venue’s QR code using the TraceTogether app or have the venue employee scan the QR code on the token.
Speed of contact tracing is important
Minister-in-charge of the Smart Nation initiative Vivian Balakrishnan said that the speed of contact tracing is key at this stage. Since we’re now at a phase where the economy is beginning to open up, with larger-scale business events resuming.
“In the last few months, because of the increasing use of digital tools and data from SafeEntry and TraceTogether, we’ve been able to reduce the time needed to identify and isolate close contacts of positive cases from about three to four days in the past. Now, for most cases, it’s less than a day,” Dr Balakrishnan said.
“So the point is that speed matters,” he added.
Collection of TraceTogether tokens
Image Credits: Token Go Where
All residents aged 7 and above can collect a token at their designated CCs when distribution starts in their area. This includes pass holders.
Simply bring along your original ID to collect your token. You may also collect them on behalf of your family members by bringing along their IDs.
Designed and developed in Singapore, Gill Mask is a timely homegrown innovation in face of a global shortage of face masks due to the SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) pandemic.
The Face Mask Respirator is a reusable mask that can extend the life of a surgical mask by 6X. In other words, you can cut a normal surgical mask into 6 smaller pieces and use each cut-out piece for 1 to 2 days, therefore potentially extending life of two surgical mask to half month supply.
Other benefits:
Can also be used for future haze events
As the filter is away from the mouth, it is user friendly to those with asthma, as well as front line people who need to communicate with mask on
Environmentally friendly and save the environment
Is comfortable and cooler than conventional N95 and surgical mask
