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The Multi-Ministry Task Force (MTF) announced in a press conference on Nov. 8 that up to five fully vaccinated persons from the same household will be able to dine-in together at food and beverage (F&B) establishments.

This will kick in from Nov. 10 for F&B establishments that are able to administer comprehensive Vaccine Differentiated Safe Management Measure (VDS) checks.

The dine-in group size for those who qualify for VDS but are not from the same household will remain capped at two.

The "same household" qualifier includes unvaccinated children 12 years old and below, in line with their eligibility for VDS.

This means dining-in for a group of friends from five different households, for example, will not be allowed.

Hawker centres, coffeeshops not included

However, this new measure will not be extended to hawker centres and coffee shops.

This is because they are unable to conduct comprehensive VDS checks of all their diners.

However, the authorities said they are prepared to extend the same concession to hawker centres and coffee shops once they have put in place additional control measures.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) and Singapore Food Agency (SFA) will be engaging hawkers’ associations and coffee shop operators respectively on this matter, with further updates to come.

Don't risk it

Strict enforcement actions will be taken against individuals who breach this rule by pretending to be from the same household.

F&B outlets that do not implement the necessary checks will also be punished.

Errant individuals will be fined, and F&B outlets will be subject to immediate closures. These penalties will apply even for first-time offenders.

The MTF stated, "We urge households to continue to exercise care and restraint when dining out together, especially if there are elderly members staying in the household."

Comparison to previous restrictions

The previous restrictions, which were last updated on Oct. 13, included:

• Food and beverage establishments only allowed two vaccinated people per group to dine together. For those unvaccinated, a test is required.
• Up to two vaccinated people per group allowed to dine at coffeeshops and hawker centres.

Top image by Isaac Matthew via Unsplash

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