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Singapore Covid Curbs Won’t Stay ‘Static,’ Health Ministry Says

Singapore Covid Curbs Won’t Stay ‘Static,’ Health Ministry Says

Singapore’s health ministry signaled again that virus curbs won’t remain as they are through the month of November if the city-state reaches a key target for further easing. 

“The current stabilisation measures will not remain static throughout this coming month,” the Ministry of Health said in a written answer to a parliamentary question Tuesday on the likelihood of people being able to dine out in groups of more than five. 

Current restrictions limit groups to just two. That means if a couple and their young children want to go out to dinner, they are forced to split up across multiple tables. 

The ministry reiterated that its key metric for easing is whether the city-state’s seven-day moving average of community cases declines week over week. Known as the weekly infection growth rate, that ratio currently sits at 1.09. 

“If the ratio goes below 1.0, and hospital/ICU situation remains stable, it will give us scope to relax restrictions,” the ministry said, reiterating a standard set by Finance Minister Lawrence Wong last month. The easing could include resuming sports, allowing more activities at schools, and letting more members of the same households dine together, the government said.

That target ratio could be hit as soon as tomorrow, so long as cases don’t unexpectedly spike again as they did last Wednesday. It’s unknown how fast the government may move once the ratio is reached. It dipped below 1 for a few days in mid-October before rising again, so easing may not come immediately.

Singapore has averaged a little under 3,100 community cases a day since Oct. 19, according a Bloomberg analysis of Ministry of Health data. Since there was a mysterious spike of 4,651 local cases last Wednesday, boosting the previous week’s numbers, the ratio for government easing could be hit if today’s community case load comes in below 4,182. 

The numbers are typically released in the late evening in Singapore.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.