The Multi-Ministry Taskforce announced on 19 May 2020 that Singapore will exit the Circuit Breaker when it ends on 1 June, and embark on a three-phased approach to resume activities safely.
The risk of a resurgence in community transmission remains high, so Singapore must be cautious as circuit breaker measures progressively lift. Safe Re-opening is the first of these phases, a gradual re-opening of some activities which will be implemented from 2 June 2020.
Economic activities that do not pose a high risk of transmission will resume, but social, economic and entertainment activities that carry higher risk will stay closed. Everyone should continue to leave home only for essential activities and should wear a mask when doing so. As seniors are a particularly vulnerable group, they should continue to stay at home as much as possible.
As more of us return to work and school, we must ensure that we conduct these activities safely, to minimise the risk of community transmission.
Safe Re-opening covers four areas:
- Safe Work
- Safe Home and Community
- Safe School
- Safe Care
Physical fitness
- Sports and recreation facilities, such as stadiums, public swimming pools, country clubs, gyms and fitness studios will remain closed.
- Organised sporting programmes will remain suspended.
- All recreational facilities in hotels will remain closed.
- You can continue to exercise on your own or with individuals who live with you in the same household, around your immediate neighbourhood in open, uncrowded places.
- Public parks will remain open, but gatherings in groups in these spaces must be avoided. Safe distancing must be practised even in open spaces. All carparks in parks, gardens and nature reserves will remain closed.
- You can check how crowded the parks are before going for a relaxing activity or running at https://safedistparks.nparks.gov.sg/
- You can also work out at home by following fitness classes or resources online.
Social wellness
- Social contact should still be minimised and confined to family members only.
- Each household will be allowed to visit their parents or grandparents staying elsewhere, to allow families to spend time and provide support to one another. However, every household should limit such visits to only one per day, and to not more than two persons from the visiting household.
- Dropping off children at parents’ and grandparents’ homes for childcare will also be allowed, subject to the same limit of two visitors from the same visiting household per day.
- All members of both households must observe good hygiene practices during the visit.
- You can also continue to keep in touch with family members and friends through video calls or phone calls.
- Retail outlets that provide items and services necessary to support the daily living needs of the population will remain open. Specific outlets in the malls will remain open for this purpose. These include supermarkets, pharmacies, restaurants, food and beverage outlets, and other outlets offering essential services. All other physical retail outlets shall be closed.
- You can check how crowded the malls are before going to get your essential items at https://www.spaceout.gov.sg.
- All entertainment venues such as nightclubs, bars, pubs, karaoke lounges, amusement centres, billiard saloons, bowling centres, computer games centres and cinemas remain to be closed.
- All attractions, theme parks, museums and casinos will remain closed.
- All other public sector social and arts activities and facilities will remain closed. These include SportSG activities, community centre classes, museums, libraries and art galleries /performance venues.
Food and nutrition
- All restaurants, hawker centres, coffeeshops, food courts and other food and beverage outlets will continue to remain open only for takeaway or delivery.
- Food suppliers – including food and food ingredient production, food manufacturing, food processing, abattoirs/ slaughterhouses, food caterers, importers and traders, and food logistics, cold stores/ warehouses, food safety testing, supermarkets, convenience stores, grocery retailers, wholesale markets and wet markets – will remain open. You can be assured of the continued availability of food items.
- Food delivery services are available on three key food delivery platforms – Deliveroo, foodpanda and GrabFood.
Personal care, health and wellness
- Healthcare services such as specialist outpatient services, medical procedures, community-based services, and chronic disease management will resume, prioritised based on medical necessity and available capacity while maintaining appropriate safe distancing and precautionary measures.
- Preventive health services, such as flu vaccinations, will recommence.
- Complementary healthcare services will resume for one-to-one sessions, and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) needle acupuncture will be allowed for all conditions.
- Allied health services will be allowed except for group interventions.
- Operators that provide hairdressing & barber services (all hairdressing services, beyond basic haircut services ), optician services and sale of optical products, laundry services for Essential Services will be available.
- Plumbers, electricians, & locksmiths will be available.
- Operators that provide motor vehicle recovery, repair and servicing services, aircon servicing, repair of consumer electronics, and household appliances, will be available.
Family and pet care
- Community-based centre services for persons with disabilities will also gradually re-open to serve those who need the services, with safe distancing measures in place. Activities will be held in smaller groups if needed, and persons who have medical conditions are encouraged to remain at home to receive home-based support.
- Residential and home-based community care services such as nursing homes, psychiatric rehabilitation homes, psychiatric sheltered homes, inpatient palliative care, home medical, home nursing, home palliative care, interim caregiver service, and meals delivery services will continue to function.
- Senior care centres, day rehab centres, psychiatric rehabilitation centres, and day hospices will be closed. Selected centres will remain open to support those with inadequate family support, as well as intensive care needs. Such seniors can also be supported with home care services including meals delivery if needed.
- Senior Activity Centres will gradually resume some activities in a safe and controlled manner.
- Pre-schools will gradually re-open by levels from 2 Jun, with full resumption by 10 Jun, so that young children can be cared for safely while their parents return to work.
- K1 and K2 children will return to school from 2 Jun. N1 and N2 children may return from 8 Jun. Infant Care and Playgroup children may return from 10 Jun.
- Student Care Centres will fully re-open on 2 Jun, along with the reopening of schools.
- Veterinary services will be open to provide emergency and non-elective services, including the hospitalisation of your pets.
- Pet supplies stores will be open for provision of animal feed and basic pet grooming services are allowed.
Education and learning
- School bookshops and retail shops selling school uniforms will be allowed to resume
- For Primary and Secondary Schools, students from graduating cohorts will attend school daily, while other cohorts will rotate weekly, alternating between Home-Based Learning (HBL) and returning to school for lessons.
- For Junior Colleges (JCs) and Millennia Institute (MI), up to half of the students will return school at any one time. JCs and MI will prioritise the return of JC 2 and Pre-U 3 students, with some rotation of students from the other levels.
- For Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs), polytechnics’ lessons and tutorials will remain online. Institute of Technical Education (ITE) students will rotate weekly between online and on-campus lessons. For both, students will return primarily for practical and lab sessions. Autonomous universities (AUs) students from the Singapore Institute of Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design will carry on with online lectures and tutorials. They will return primarily for practical and lab sessions, including capstone and final-year projects. Students from other AUs will be having their vacation.
- For Special Education (SPED) schools, students’ return will be staggered from 2 Jun, all will be back in school by 8 Jun.
- All staff and students will need to wear masks or face shields when in school or on campus.
- Co-Curricular Activities, enrichment activities and tuition will not resume.
Workplace safety
Besides essential businesses that are already operating, more Singaporeans will gradually be allowed to return to work. This starts with businesses that operate in settings with lower transmission risks, including:
– Most manufacturing and production facilities, eg. semiconductors and medical technology; and
– Most businesses with employees working in offices and setting that do not require interactions with large groups of people, eg. finance & insurance, and IT & info services.
- Tele-commuting must be adopted to the maximum extent in businesses that re-open. This means those who have been working from home so far should keep doing so, and employees should go to the office only where demonstrably necessary, e.g. to access specialised systems/equipment that cannot be accessed from home.
- Employers must put in place and enforce safe management measures at the workplace, and employees must adhere strictly to them. Checks will be conducted, and non-compliant businesses will have to close their workplaces. More details of MTI’s advisory on the gradual resumption of business activities can be read here.
Spiritual wellness
- Religious services will remain suspended and places of worship can re-open for private worship, i.e. with up to 5 members of the same household praying together at any one time.
- Where necessary, places of worship may continue to conduct funeral rites but should involve no more than 10 people at any one time.
Financial wellness
- All financial markets in Singapore remain open, and payment services are unaffected.
- Banking services will continue to be available through online channels, ATMs and bank branches.
- Insurance, broking, custody, asset management, and financial advisory services will also continue to be available.
- Some branches of banks and finance companies and customer service centres of insurance companies may close temporarily because of reduced customer traffic.
Others
- Essential services, such as national security, law and order, regulatory enforcement, government communications, public healthcare services, transportation, foreign affairs and embassy services, border control, civil defence, critical infrastructure, utilities, greenery and animal management and environmental services will continue.
- Key physical centres that provide help to needy Singaporeans, such as residential social services and social service centres will also remain open.
- Blood donation services will remain in operation, and residents are encouraged to continue donating blood during this period. As part of the additional precautions put in place for safe distancing, donors are highly encouraged to make appointments for their blood donations. Please visit HSA’s website for more information: https://www.hsa.gov.sg/blood-donation.
- Marriages solemnisations involving up to 10 persons will be allowed to take place in-person again.
- All government-managed columbaria (Choa Chu Kang, Mandai and Yishun Columbarium) will be remain closed.
- During the period of closure, installation of urns into niches may continue, with permit from NEA. Next-of-kin may be present but should be limited in number, with proper safe distancing observed.
- Choa Chu Kang Cemetery will remain open for burials, and Mandai Crematorium will remain open for cremation services.
- Operators that provide funeral-related services (e.g. funeral directors/undertakers, crematoria, columbarium, funeral parlours) will be available.
- Families can continue to gather for wakes and funerals, with no more than 10 persons at any one time.
- Operators that provide telecommunications (Fixed, Mobile and Internet Access), data centres, broadcasting services (radio and television), postal services, security printing services, the publication of newspapers, waste Collection & disposal services, environmental hygiene monitoring & public cleansing services will continue.
- All home-based businesses that operate using a delivery/collection model will be allowed to resume.
* To check if a business may resume: https://covid.gobusiness.gov.sg/permittedlist/
Social Responsibility is Key
- Social responsibility is critical in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
- Those who are unwell, even with mild flu-like symptoms, should see a doctor immediately. They should not go out into the public for any other purpose, and should not come into close contact with others.
- All should adopt safe distancing and good hygiene practices even at home, and encourage your friends and family to do so as well.
