NDP 2021 Will Still Be Held at Marina Bay Floating Platform; All Spectators Must Be Vaccinated

By
George Yang
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The fate of NDP 2020 was more or less sealed after the announcement of Circuit Breaker last April, and no one expected any mass celebration.

But the fate for this year’s NDP has been kept a secret so far. With Singapore looking to treat COVID-19 as an endemic instead of a pandemic, and with the authorities targeting to fully vaccinate two-third of Singapore population by 9 August 2021, this begs the question: would the Kallang roar be back?

We finally get our answer today: yes, it’ll be back, but it’s a Kallang meow instead.

NDP 2021 Will Still Be Held at Marina Bay Floating Platform; All Spectators Must Be Vaccinated

Tomorrow is a deals da—I mean, tomorrow is SAF Day, and Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen was speaking ahead of SAF Day at Mandai Hill Camp when he also spoke about the National Day Parade.

To know more about serving in the SAF, watch this video to the end:

Unlike last year whereby we only get to watch the celebration on TV, this year’s celebration would be more similar to what we’re used to: live performances with spectators.

However, there would be a few key differences:

  • There will be fewer participants and spectators (numbers will be revealed later)
  • Performers have to undergo antigen rapid test before every rehearsal
  • Spectators must undergo pre-event testing
  • All spectators must be fully vaccinated

In previous years, the crowd would be about 25,000 people.

Like last year, there will still be heartland activities, so make sure you look left and right before you cross any road on 9 August 2021.

Of course people would be asking: with community cases still detected in Singapore every day, why not just do what we did last year?

Dr Hen said, “Part of it is learning to live with the disease, an endemic disease. And by August, we hope two-thirds of our population would have received the vaccination.

“The short answer is that we think it can be held safely, and it’s an appropriate occasion to shift to living with the disease, but managing it so that you can get back to a new normal.”

It’s unknown whether there would still be fireworks.

Lest you’ve forgotten, we’re just one month away from National Day, and usually, the performers would rehearse months before the parade. This means the performers now have less time to prepare, to which Dr Hen said, “We hope that Singaporeans will understand if the show isn’t as well prepared as in previous years, we’ve had less time to prepare.”

The NDP organising committee will provide more details in a few days’ time, although let’s be honest: you just want to know what’s in the fun pack, don’t you?

Featured Image: Square Box Photos / Shutterstock.com

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George Yang
Email: [email protected]