Under The Angsana Tree: COVID-19: Singapore enters Stabilisation Phase on 27 Sep 2021

Singapore exits Stabilisation Phase, enters Transition Phase from 22 Nov 2021

Update 21 Nov 2021: Singapore enters Transition Phase from 22 Nov 2021

Singapore’s move from a Covid-19 “stabilisation phase” to a “transition phase”

From Monday (Nov 22), fully vaccinated people can dine together in groups of up to five, even if they are not from the same household. The two-person cap on social gatherings will also be raised to five persons, and households may take in up to five distinct visitors a day from Monday.

The changes came after the Government announced that the Covid-19 "stabilisation phase" will end on Sunday. In a statement on Saturday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that Singapore will move into the “transition phase” of its reopening plan, bringing the country back on track on its four-stage roadmap to live with Covid-19.

Right now, fully vaccinated people are allowed to dine at food establishments in groups of up to five only if they are from the same household. If they are from different households, they may only dine in pairs. The easing of measures were in view of the Covid-19 situation having improved since the stabilisation phase was extended for a month in October.

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RESUMING OUR TRANSITION TOWARDS COVID RESILIENCE

On 20 October 2021, the Multi-Ministry Taskforce announced the extension of the Stabilisation Phase for four weeks, through to 21 November 2021. With the efforts and cooperation of everyone, our overall infection numbers and hospital situation have largely stabilised and improved. In the coming weeks, a significant proportion of the population would have had or will be receiving their vaccination boosters. Overall, we are in a better position to proceed with further easing of our community Safe Management Measures (SMMs), in a careful and calibrated manner, and exit the Stabilisation Phase into a Transition Phase.

From 22 November 2021, we will increase group sizes for dine-in and social gatherings from 2 to 5 persons, irrespective of whether the group members are from the same household or not. We will also extend our Vaccination-Differentiated Safe Management Measures (VDS) to protect the unvaccinated from getting infected and becoming severely ill. In-person visits to hospitals and residential care homes will also resume with VDS in place. To enhance protection for our population as we ease community measures, we will also accelerate our booster vaccination programme.

Even with these moves, it is important that we remain disciplined and vigilant. While the local situation is stabilising and our healthcare system is still able to manage the current caseload, we must not let our guard down. We should not seek to push the limits, but should continue to exercise restraint in our social interactions even as we approach the year-end period. All of us need to continue to play our part to prevent another wave of infection which could put pressure on our healthcare system.

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Tapering down support measures as Singapore exits Stabilisation Phase

As Singapore exits the Stabilisation Phase, the Government will correspondingly taper down support measures to $90m to help affected businesses and those self-employed:

Extension of Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) - 10% Jobs Support Scheme support from 22 November to 19 December 2021 for F&B, retail, cinemas, museums, art galleries, historical sites, family entertainment, tourism, gyms and fitness studios, and performing arts and arts education. Please refer to the table below for more information.
Rental waiter for stallholders - 0.5 month rental waiver for the cooked food and market stallholders in centres managed by NEA or NEA-appointed operators.
COVID-19 Driver Relief Fund payout for taxi and private hire car drivers - Dec 2021: $10*/vehicle/day - Jan 2022: $5/vehicle/day

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COVID-19 restrictions extended to Nov 21; more time needed to stabilise situation

Singapore will extend its current COVID-19 restrictions for another month as more time is needed to stabilise the situation, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (Oct 20).

The restrictions under the Stabilisation Phase, which started on Sep 27 and was originally scheduled to last until Oct 24, was implemented to reduce the strain on the country's healthcare system. It has now been extended to Nov 21.

Social gatherings were capped to a maximum of two while work-from-home became the default arrangement, among other measures. “Unfortunately, given the continuing pressures on our healthcare system, more time is needed for the situation to stabilise,” said MOH in a media release.

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Stabilisation Phase extended by a month until Nov 21

The current Stabilisation Phase, which began on Sep 27 and includes measures such as the two-person cap on social gatherings and dining at food and beverage (F&B) establishments, will be extended for a month. PHOTO: SPH

SINGAPORE'S Stabilisation Phase, originally meant to end after Oct 24, will be extended by four weeks until Nov 21, with an additional S$640 million support package on the way to help companies and individuals, the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 announced on Wednesday (Oct 20).

"We have explained earlier that we can relax the restrictions only if the pressure eases off on the healthcare system," said taskforce co-chair and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong.

While the government is beefing up manpower and capacity, it will take time for these reinforcements to come in, and in the meantime, Singapore faces "considerable risk of the healthcare system being overwhelmed", he said.

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Lawrence Wong on "stabilisation phase" in Singapore

COVID-19: Minister Lawrence Wong gives update 1 week into "stabilisation phase"

Singapore should not “get too carried away” or be “too anxious or fearful” about daily COVID-19 case numbers, said co-chair of the multi-ministry task force Lawrence Wong, as he asked the public for patience amid the pandemic.

Speaking at a multi-ministry task force press conference on Saturday (Oct 2), Mr Wong addressed the two different reactions emerging as the number of daily cases spike:

“Of course, when we see such surge of cases during these few days, several thousand a day, I know it can be quite worrying and you have two sort of very sharp reactions from different people,” he noted.
“One group says ‘Look, it's so high, let's quickly lock down and bring cases down'. Another group says, ‘Well, this is completely to be expected, after all we talked about living with COVID, so move forward'.”

Responding to the first group calling for restrictions to be tightened further, Mr Wong noted that Singapore has “gone beyond that point”.

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Cautious moves towards Covid-19 resilience

The past few weeks, since Singapore's Covid-19 stabilisation phase kicked in on Sept 27, have shown some encouraging signs that the current strategy of fighting the coronavirus pandemic is working. The feared possibility that Singapore could see 5,000 new Covid-19 cases a day by mid-October - to say nothing of cases peaking at 10,000 a day - has not come to pass. Admittedly, the number of cases is still worrying, having crossed the 3,000 mark, but the reproduction rate of the disease does not appear close to overwhelming the healthcare system and causing a massive rise in the number of fatalities. Instead, making home recovery the default programme for all, except for certain groups, has allowed the authorities to better prioritise resources to tend to the severely ill or vulnerable patients without compromising care for all. Initial hitches in the home recovery programme have been addressed so that those on it do not feel that confused and at a loss as to the protocols they have to follow.

At the same time, differentiation between those who are vaccinated and the unvaccinated has been sharpened by the imposition of some social restrictions on the latter. This is only right because the vast majority, the vaccinated, should not be held hostage by the choices of those who refuse inoculation even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the benefits of vaccines. A balance is being struck between the social rights of the vaccinated and the unvaccinated in the absence of rules that make inoculation compulsory.

Meanwhile, the institution of a scheme which allows travellers vaccinated against Covid-19 to fly to several countries and return without having to quarantine has been complemented by making travel to Singapore easier for visitors through the Vaccinated Travel Lane scheme. These initiatives attest to Singapore's need to preserve its status as an international aviation and communications hub even as it shores up its defences against Covid-19 at home through calibrated restrictions and safe management measures. Singapore has been careful in its opening up and closely assesses the risks and implications of doing so.

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What you can and cannot do in Singapore during the Stabilisation Phase

Due to the rise in Covid-19 cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has implemented measures to lower transmission risks and slow down the increase in infections. This means that social gatherings will have to scale back a bit. The new wave of restrictions may dampen Singapore's reopening plans but we're not going to let it dampen our moods. Here's what you need to know:

This phase has a name?
How long will this last?
Can I still dine in at my favourite spots?
Can I visit my family and friends?
Will I be able to do my groceries and go shopping?
So can I see Dune or the new Bond film in the cinema?
How can I still get fit?
What is the office situation?
I'm so stressed, can I go for a massage or facial?
Can I go on dates?

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Singapore enters the Stabilisation Phase on 27 September 2021

Safe management measures for Stabilisation Phase

During this stabilisation period, safe management measures will be tightened to slow down the number of COVID-19 cases.

From 27 Sep - 24 Oct, social gatherings will be reduced to a maximum of 2 persons. Work-from-home will be the default and home-based learning for Primary and Special Education schools will be extended till 7 Oct. Seniors are also strongly encouraged to stay home as much as possible.

Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong was speaking at the Multi-Ministry Taskforce press conference on 24 Sept 2021.

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COVID-19: Singapore abandoning ‘Zero COVID’ strategy

Singapore reported 1,931 new COVID-19 cases and 13 more deaths linked to the coronavirus as of noon on Saturday (Nov 20). The fatalities were aged between 62 and 98. All of them, except for an unvaccinated case, had various underlying medical conditions. Singapore's death toll from the coronavirus now stands at 654.

The daily case count on Saturday is up from the 1,734 infections reported on Friday. Among the new cases, 1,925 are locally transmitted, comprising 1,867 infections in the community and 58 cases in migrant workers' dormitories. The remaining six are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to the media at about 11.30pm.

As of Saturday, Singapore has reported 250,518 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

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Singapore Back to Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) from 22 Jul 2021

Singapore reported 3,163 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Sunday (Oct 31) as 13 more people died from complications due to the virus. The fatalities were aged between 57 and 89. All of them had various underlying medical conditions, except for two unvaccinated or partially vaccinated individuals who had no known medical conditions. The Ministry of Health (MOH) did not specify what these conditions were. This brings Singapore's death toll from the coronavirus to 407.

Among Sunday's cases, 3,159 infections are locally transmitted, comprising 2,745 in the community and 414 in migrant workers' dormitories. Four are imported cases, MOH said in its daily update released to media at about 11.05pm. The weekly infection growth rate is 1.12 as of . This refers to the ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before.

As of Sunday, Singapore has reported a total of 198,374 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

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