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This year's National Day Parade (NDP) is returning to The Float @ Marina Bay on Aug. 9, 2021.

The number of spectators for this year's parade will be scaled down as part of NDP's Covid-19 measures.

"Together, Our Singapore Spirit"

This year's theme is "Together, Our Singapore Spirit".

The theme calls on Singaporeans to invigorate the Singapore Spirit, overcome setbacks and build a stronger Singapore.

Chairman of NDP 2021 Executive Committee Brigadier-General Tan Cheng Kwee said:

"This year's theme, 'Together, Our Singapore Spirit', celebrates the spirit of our people that has kept us strong. NDP this year will showcase the qualities of the Singapore spirit, the 'can-do' attitude, our unity and our resilience. With the proper precautions in place we want to make NDP a milestone event, paving the way forward to a new normal where large-scale activities can resume even in an endemic Covid-19 situation."

All 1,200 participants fully vaccinated

According to a press release, the NDP Parade and Show segments have been designed with a home audience in mind, and viewers can look forward to seeing television-exclusive special effects during the livestream.

In order for this year's NDP to take place, several measures will be put in place.

This includes scaling down the number of spectators and participants for the parade to ensure that safe management measures can be applied across rehearsals and performances.

NDP 2021 will involve 1,200 participants at the Float who have been further split into smaller functional groups.

All participants have been fully vaccinated and are required to undergo weekly rostered routine testing to ensure that only healthy participants are allowed into rehearsal venues.

While past NDP events typically have a capacity of 25,000 spectators, expect just a fraction of the capacity for this year's NDP due to safe management measures.

"We are still waiting for the decision on the guidelines in the next phase from our MOH colleagues and I think we remain hopeful that for NDP and large-scale events in the future, we can move past these limits," Tan said.

Singaporean "everyday heroes" invited to watch NDP

At a doorstop session, Tan mentioned that there will no public balloting this year, for the safety of Singaporeans.

Instead, tickets will be given to fully-vaccinated Singaporean "everyday heroes" including the following:

• Contributed directly at the frontlines fighting Covid-19
• Served essential roles
• Community leaders who have stepped up to help other Singaporeans amid the pandemic

Tan cited teachers, transport workers and hawkers among some of the "everyday heroes".

"We are going to have to work with our colleagues on the agencies to nominate these Singaporeans and then we will extend the invitation to them subsequently," he said.

Spectators will have to go through pre-event testing and abide by safe management measures.

First live-virtual parade

For those at home, the parade will also be streamed live.

NDP 2021 will harness technology and connect performances for the first-ever live-virtual performance at NDP.

Viewers can expect the same technology in the Parade and Ceremony segment where civilian entities will participate and join the parade via virtual means.

Red Lions in the heartlands

Apart from the main parade, Singaporeans can look forward to the popular Red Lions.

On Aug. 7 and 8, the Red Lions will conduct freefall jumps over various heartland sites.

On Aug. 9, the State Flag will also be flown over the residential areas and Singaporeans can catch the fireworks at night.