Singapore to ease Covid measures; drops outdoor mask mandate

Office workers walk out for lunch break at Raffles Place financial business district in Singapore on January 4, 2022.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien loong said on Thursday that Singapore will ease most of its Covid restrictions from March 29.

Limits on social gatherings will be doubled from five to 10, more employees can return to office and capacity limits for large events will be increased, Lee said in a national address.

Safe distance of 1 meter between groups in mask-off settings will still be required.

Singapore has been more strict about measures such as mask mandates than most of the rest of the world.

The peak of the omicron wave appears to have passed. There were 8,940 new cases on Wednesday, down from a record 26,032 infections on Feb. 22.

Almost all of the population has received at least one shot under the national vaccine program.

Most people in Singapore have no symptoms. The intensive care unit had 0.04% of patients requiring oxygen over the last 28 days.