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In the past couple of weeks, Singapore has seen a drastic rise in the number of both linked and unlinked Covid-19 cases in the community, the majority of which have been linked to the KTV and Jurong Fishery Port clusters, which have also been found to be linked to one another.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Tuesday (Jul. 20) that between Jul. 12 and Jul. 18, an average of 46 community cases were detected, which is the highest number since April 2020.

Social gatherings limited to maximum of 2 people

As such, the country will be reverting to the safe management measures under Phase 2 (Heightened Alert), between Jul. 22 and Aug. 18.

This means that permissible group sizes for social gatherings will be reduced from a maximum of five people (which has been in place since Jun. 14) back down to a maximum of two people.

In addition, there will be a cap of two distinct visitors per household per day.

Individuals should also continue to limit their overall number of social gatherings to not more than two per day, whether to another household, or meeting with friends and family members in a public place, said MOH.

Grandchildren cared for by grandparents daily not counted

In order to allow families' current childcare arrangements to continue, grandchildren who are cared for by their grandparents daily will not be counted toward the cap of two distinct visitors per household, nor to the number of social gatherings per day.

Grandparents are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated against Covid-19, to protect both themselves and their grandchildren.

To reduce the risk of transmission, MOH said, grandparents should also minimise intermingling between grandchildren from different households.

Ministry for Finance and co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce Lawrence Wong said:

"We will have these measures in place for a month, but we will review after two weeks, and we will then consider adjustments to the measures based on the overall situation then."

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Top photo by Valerie Ng.