Only employees who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 within the past 180 days can return to the workplace. THE STRAITS TIMES
From January 15 next year in Singapore, unvaccinated workers will not be allowed to return to the workplace even if they test negative for Covid-19 24 hours beforehand.
This move is meant to bolster Singapore’s protection against a large wave of local Omicron cases and keep workplaces in the city-state safe, said the Ministry of Health on December 26.
From January 1, only employees who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 within the past 180 days can return to the workplace.
But the authorities said in October that unvaccinated workers would be given a concession if they test negative for Covid-19.
They required a pre-event test (PET) at a test provider approved by the health ministry, which must be valid for the duration that the employees are required to be present at the workplace.
The ministry said on December 26 that the authorities reviewed this PET concession with the tripartite partners – the Ministry of Manpower, the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation – and decided to remove it from January 15.
Partially vaccinated workers, those who have taken at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine but are not yet fully vaccinated, will be given a grace period until January 31 next year to complete their vaccination regime.
During the grace period, they will be able to enter the workplace with a negative PET result.
“This change will help to protect unvaccinated individuals and create safer workplaces for everyone,” the ministry said, adding that the tripartite partners support the move and have issued an updated advisory.
From January 1-15, unvaccinated workers will have to pay for their own PETs in order to return to the workplace. Partially vaccinated workers also have to pay for their own PETs until they become fully vaccinated.
The ministry said it will also open applications for a second round of free antigen rapid test (ART) kit distribution for workplaces that are not on mandatory rostered routine testing (RRT) regimes.
This will help workplaces to implement voluntary weekly testing for two months in order to facilitate early identification of Covid-19 cases and reduce workplace transmission as more return to work.
Companies with employees that work onsite and are not already subject to mandatory RRT may apply for eight ART kits per onsite vaccinated employee if they need funding support, the ministry said.
The application window will open on January 3 and close on January 31.
More details will be made available on the GoBusiness website closer to the date, the ministry added.
The first free ART distribution exercise took place in September and October as the Delta variant was spreading widely in Singapore.
Given the higher transmissibility of the Omicron variant, the ministry said on December 26 that all companies are encouraged to implement regular testing for all employees, even though Singapore’s workforce is already highly vaccinated and protected from severe disease.
Higher-risk workplaces are already on mandatory RRT and have been given financial support to implement this. Hence, the second round of ART kit distribution will help to support lower-risk workplaces.
As of December 25, 546 confirmed Omicron cases have been detected in Singapore, comprising 443 imported cases and 103 local cases.
THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE)/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
