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Good news. Dining in will soon resume in late June, the Multi-ministry Taskforce (MTF) announced on June 10 during a press conference.

Dining in allowed

Dining in was previously forbidden and social gatherings limited to two people on May 16, when Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) was introduced.

The measures were meant to stave off the rising number of community cases.

After nearly a month of mostly staying indoors and eating takeaway, it was announced that dining in at F&B establishments will be allowed to resume from June 21 onwards, if the Covid-19 situation remains under control.

This later date is to ensure that the "situation is stable" before dining in resumes, said Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong.

Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong added that while he understood F&B operators might be disappointed by having to wait another week before reopening, he urged them to take that time to "really go through their processes, their protocols" and to ensure that their restaurant layouts comply with the new safe distancing rules.

Social gathering cap increased

From June 14 onwards, the maximum cap for social gatherings will also be increased to five persons.

As these areas are higher-risk settings, F&B establishments are reminded to strictly observe at least one metre safe distancing between groups of diners.

This is to mitigate the risk of transmission between unmasked persons.

The government added that during this period, they will be significantly stepping up enforcement and will take firmer enforcement action for any breaches.

In the meantime, patrons are reminded to keep their masks on at all times, except when eating or drinking.

Testing regime

As Singapore reopens and more activities resume, all staff who work at higher-risk settings with unmasked clients or patrons will be required to be placed on a regular Fast and Easy Testing (FET) regime.

This includes staff at dine-in F&B establishments.

The FET regime utilises antigen rapid tests (ART), and will be carried out regardless of the staff's vaccination status.

The Ministry of Health will be aggressively ramping up FET capacity in the coming months.

Mandatory FET testing will be progressively rolled out to larger establishments first and extended to smaller businesses thereafter.

For dine-in F&B establishments, the mandatory FET testing will be rolled out progressively, starting from July.

Details of the roll-out will be announced when ready.

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