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SINGAPORE – As Singapore moves into the long-awaited third phase of its reopening on Monday (December 28), attractions such as Gardens by the Bay have implemented more measures to accommodate more visitors.
The natural park has installed automatic thermal scanners at the entrances to its refrigerated greenhouses, which will sound an alarm if a visitor with high temperatures tries to enter.
The entrances and exits of the greenhouses are also equipped with automated people counters to monitor their capacity, and areas have been delimited to accommodate larger groups.
Attractions that have requested to increase their capacity limit to 65 percent of full capacity can do so starting Monday with more flexible measures for phase 3, up from the 50 percent limit that has been in place since Singapore entered phase two on June 19.
Groups of up to eight people can now meet socially, from a limit of five, and the capacity limit for independent shopping centers and large stores will be increased from 10 square meters per person to 8 square meters per person.
Four parks managed by Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS) also increase their capacity limits: Singapore Zoo, River Safari, Night Safari and Jurong Bird Park.
WRS said more safe distancing ambassadors will be deployed to its parks during phase 3, especially during peak days.
In Sentosa, the annual Siloso Beach Party New Year’s Eve countdown won’t take place this year, but a Sentosa spokesperson said visitors to the island’s beaches, restaurants and other attractions can make group reservations. up to eight as of Monday.
According to current measures, bathers will have to reserve time slots if they intend to visit on weekends and holidays, but those who only frequent food and drink outlets on the beach will not have to reserve a time slot.
At The Prive Group’s restaurants, its president, Yuan Oeij, said changes will be made to their designs if necessary, to accommodate larger groups of diners.
With phase 3 starting in the middle of the festive season, Oeij said Prive’s restaurants have seen “a flood of reservation requests, especially larger tables.” The group’s Chinese restaurant, Empress, has also seen a surge in reservations for large tables in anticipation of the Chinese New Year.
Oeij said that with the relaxation of the rules, he anticipates there may be “even more pressure from a minority of customers who don’t understand safe distancing enough and want operators to break the rules,” something that has been a problem for restaurants from phase two started and dine out was allowed again.
Meanwhile, Frasers Property Retail, which runs shopping centers such as The Centrepoint, Causeway Point and Century Square, said that more entry and exit points have been opened to ensure smooth traffic in and around the shopping centers, and will continue to be observed. existing hygiene and safe management measures. .
With the rules loosening, infectious disease specialist Dr. Leong Hoe Nam warned that there will likely be more community cases as larger social gatherings occur.
Places like South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong displayed “exemplary behavior in their first wave of control” but had to institute painful lockdowns when infections emerged as restrictions were lowered, a situation Singapore would like to avoid.
“As we move into phase 3, we must remember the battle scars of the circuit breaker,” added Dr. Leong.
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