Health Minister: Household Members Can Go Out in Groups of More Than 2 Only for Essential Activities

If you think that Mr Gan Kim Yong is still our health minister, you’ve probably started to lose track of time (again) as Singapore enters “CB-Lite” today, whereby every day for the next 30 days would feel like Valentine’s Day as you’d be seeing groups of two everywhere.

When the announcement of Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) was made, we were all crying at the fact that we can’t have piping hot Bak Kut Teh anymore but forgot to ask one very important question: can people in the same household go out in groups of more than 2?

After all, during Phase 1 and Circuit Breaker, we were not supposed to go out at all. Now that we can go out but limited to two per group, can we go out together if we live in the household?

Newly minted Health Minister, Ong Ye Kung, answered the pressing question in a Facebook post.

Household Members Can Go Out in Groups of More Than 2 Only for Essential Activities

According to the former Transport Minister who’s now not wordless with his new role, he said that they should have been clearer about this issue.

He wrote, “Family members staying together can go out as one group to do essential activities, such as going to school or for medical appointment. They can also go out together as a family unit to take care of their elderly relatives, like their grandparents.  For grocery shopping, do try to keep to 2 as this minimises your family’s exposure to the virus.”

In other words, yes, you can go out together only if it’s for essential activities. If you’re going out together just to window-shop in Orchard, then you can only go out in pairs.

Mr Ong also added that for a family of four (parents with two children) from the same household, they can they travel in the same car or take public transport together.

He highlighted that “enforcement officers will exercise judgement and flexibility. But we will not hesitate to take firm actions against the egregious offenders, such as refusing to wear a mask in public and challenging our Safe Distancing Ambassadors, who perform an important public service.”

Not sure who he’s referring to, but I don’t think he’s referring to someone who wanted to see a badge.

You can read his full post here:

And yes, masks are way more helpful than you can imagine. Watch this video to the end and you’ll understand:

Featured Image: YouTube