Up to 50% can return to office from Jan 1

Vaccination-differentiated measures will be extended to more settings from Feb 1; new validity period for 'fully-vaccinated' status

Dec 15, 2021

SINGAPORE'S Covid-19 vaccination stance is getting stricter, with a new validity period for "fully-vaccinated" status, more vaccination-differentiated measures, and the potential end of an exemption that lets unvaccinated staff enter workplaces - even as more employees are allowed to return.

From Jan 1, the default work-from-home (WFH) stance will ease, with half of those able to WFH being allowed back to the office, the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 said on Tuesday (Dec 14).

The current 50-person cap on work-related events will also be raised for events where all participants are masked and seated, with safe distancing. Workplace social gatherings remain disallowed.

Singapore Business Federation chief executive officer Lam Yi Young welcomed the news, saying that businesses have been looking forward to the lifting of the WFH-as-default arrangement.

"This will allow businesses greater flexibility in managing their staff deployment and work arrangements to best fit their business needs," he said.

It will also enable more face-to-face meetings with customers and vendors, and more interactions among colleagues, "which helps in the generation of new ideas and collaborations, and in team-bonding", he added.



From Jan 1, only fully-vaccinated or recovered employees may return to workplaces. When this was announced in October, the rule then was that unvaccinated employees may still return if they have a negative pre-event test result from an approved provider.

The government is now "considering to remove this concession", said taskforce co-chair and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong.

"But it does have implications for employers and workers. That is why we are consulting and discussing with our tripartite partners on this particular move. We will provide more details when the arrangements are finalised," he said.

Separately, the government will extend subsidies for mandated rostered routine testing until March 31. "Beyond that, employers and businesses should be prepare to factor in testing costs as part of their normal business operations," said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a press release.

Vaccination remains the main defence against new variants such as Omicron, said the taskforce as it introduced the upcoming changes.

Singapore has detected 16 Omicron cases to date: 14 imported, and 2 local infections of airport staff.

While community transmission of Omicron has not been detected here yet, this is "only a matter of time", and may lead to another surge in cases for which Singapore must prepare, said taskforce co-chair and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong.

"We need to treat Covid-19 primary vaccination as a three-dose regime," said co-chair and Health Minister Ong Ye Kung.

"Fully-vaccinated status" after two mRNA vaccine doses, or three Sinovac or Sinopharm doses, will thus last for only "a limited period".

The MOH is consulting the expert committee on Covid-19 vaccination to determine this duration, with the policy expected to be announced at the end of 2021 or early in 2022.

But Ong assured the public that fully-vaccinated status will not lapse for those who have not yet had a chance to get a booster, nor for those ineligible for boosters.

There are about 160,000 unvaccinated persons in Singapore today, including 40,000 seniors aged 60 and above.

It was earlier announced that from Jan 1, unvaccinated individuals will no longer be able to present a negative pre-event test result to enter places with vaccination-differentiated measures.

On Tuesday, the taskforce further announced that from Feb 1, vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS) will be extended to more settings: indoor sports facilities, institutes of higher learning (IHLs), and leisure guests in hotels, hostels and serviced apartments.

But students in IHLs who are completing full-time NITEC, Higher NITEC, diploma, or degree programmes will be exempted from this requirement when entering their educational institutions, with more details to be released.

From Feb 1, all events - regardless of size - must also have vaccination-differentiated measures. Current rules require such measures only if there are over 50 attendees.

Pilots of "VDS+Test" events - where safe management measures can be eased for fully-vaccinated individuals with a valid negative antigen rapid test (ART) result - have been successful and will be expanded where feasible.

The Health Promotion Board has set up or partnered with private providers to set up close to 60 Quick Test Centres (QTCs) where the public can take supervised ARTs, priced at S$15.

Another 60 private QTCs are expected to be set up in the next few weeks, in partnership with general practitioners, mall operators, and hotel groups.

Given the likely higher transmissibility of Omicron, there are contingency plans to ramp up healthcare and intensive care unit (ICU) capacity, increase community treatment facility capacity, and increase manpower.

The home recovery protocol will be expanded in January to cover "mildly symptomatic and suitably fit" patients who can recover well at home, with details to come.

MOH director of medical services Kenneth Mak said Singapore is making plans to ramp up ICU capacity to 500 beds.

But even while the healthcare system has the ability to stretch to more beds, it cannot do so in a sustained fashion without compromising clinical services or care of other cases in hospitals - which is why it is extremely important to reduce the incidence of severely ill Covid-19 patients, he added.