75% Of Singapore Workers Can Return To Office: PM Lee

SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced today that the city-state intends to relax most of its COVID-related measures, including allowing up to 75 percent of staff who can work from home (WFH) to return to their workplace, reported CNBC on Thursday noon (24 March, SGT).

Caps on social gathering sizes will also be increased from 5 to 10, capacity limits for huge events will be raised, and wearing masks will no longer be required while outside, said Lee in a televised address.

Still, wearing of masks will be compulsory indoors, and a social distancing of 1 meter between groups in mask-off settings will still be mandated.

In addition, Lee also revealed that authorities in Singapore will “drastically streamline” testing and quarantine requirements and will ease measures to make travel abroad easier “almost like before COVID-19.”

“Resume more normal lives, enjoy larger gatherings of family and friends, go outdoors without masks, or reunite with loved ones abroad. But do not throw all caution to the wind,” he warned.

Regarding travel restrictions, Transport Minister S Iswaran said during a press briefing that all fully vaccinated inbound travellers will no longer need to undergo COVID tests upon arrival in Singapore starting from 1 April 2022. However, pre-departure tests at their country of origin will still be needed.

Apart from that, the peak of the omicron wave here seems to have passed. New daily cases only hovered at 8,940 on Wednesday, down from a record high of 26,032 infections on 22 February.

As of 22 March, 92 percent of Singapore’s population has been completely inoculated by vaccine brands accepted by the government, while 71 percent have received booster shots.

The majority of people infected here show mild or zero symptoms. Merely 0.3 percent required oxygen supplementation in the past 28 days, while 0.04 percent were admitted in a hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU).