Health Minister: Dine-In Rules Might Ease from 12 July & Leisure Travel Might Resume by Year-End

If you’ve been eyeing to have mala with a group of friends instead of with your partner, mark this date down: 12 July 2021.

Other than the possibility of dining in in groups of more than two, Singapore might be easing more restrictions on that day.

Health Minister: Dine-In Rules Might Ease from 12 July & Leisure Travel Might Resume by Year-End

In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times that is uploaded live, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung answered a few questions that everyone has been asking in the last few weeks.

He said that the goal now is for us to treat COVID-19 as an endemic disease once more people are vaccinated, and this will come in several milestones, with the first being on 12 July 2021.

To know what an endemic disease is, and the differences between an endemic and a pandemic, watch this video to the end:

Simply put, an endemic disease is like the flu—it’ll always be in Singapore but it’ll be rather predictable.

According to the Health Minister, dine-in rules might ease on 12 July—but that depends on whether COVID-19 clusters are under control.

There would also be other openings, which will come in stages as opening up everything immediately is too risky—gradual opening would allow the authorities to assess any potential risks.,

Mr Ong said that once the pandemic is over, the first thing he hope he can do would be to travel, which begs the burning question: when can we travel again?

Mr Ong hoped that we would be able to travel before the end of this year, but it depends on whether the country we’d be travelling has a downward trend in infections and upward trend in vaccinations.

Yes, so this means the destinations would include countries in Europe and the US, whereby confirmed cases might be high but the number of infections is dropping while the number of vaccinations is increasing.

As to whether Hong Kong would be the first destination, Mr Ong said in jest that he might have to change the name to “Travel Corridor” instead of “Travel Bubble” because the word “bubble” is jinxed, but he didn’t provide more context.

You can watch the entire interview here:

Featured Image: Facebook (Ong Ye Kung)