Singapore has reverted to Phase 2 after the Government’s multi-ministry Covid-19 task force announced new measures to combat the rise in community cases.

These new social distancing rules include the limits for gatherings being reduced from eight people to five. In addition, households can only receive five distinct guests per day. The new cap of five people for social gatherings and household visits brings Singapore back to Phase 2 of its safe reopening. 

There are now 40 cases linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital cluster. Community cases have been on the rise, with the number of new Covid-19 cases increasing to 64 cases in the past week from 11 the week before.

(Related: Singapore Returns to Phase 2: New Covid-19 Social Distancing Rules You Need to Know)

As such, many have been left wondering if a second circuit breaker is imminent.

In fact, the Government has not ruled out this possibility.

At a press conference on May 4, co-chair of the ministerial task force Lawrence Wong said: “Effectively when you look at the range of measures, the measures will bring us back to Phase 2 for a few weeks from 8th of May to 30th of May.

“This is not a circuit breaker, we certainly hope not to have to invoke another circuit breaker. But we have imposed a tight set of measures so that we can respond robustly and preemptively to the latest outbreak of clusters and do our best to snuff them out early and reduce the likelihood to impose more drastic measures down the road.”

(Related: Singapore Tightens Covid-19 Restrictions, Public Urged to Limit Social Gatherings to 2 a Day)

However, Minister Gan Kim Yong added that it is important to note that they “have not ruled out the possibility of a circuit breaker”.

“Certainly, we hope we won’t get there and we must do what we can with this set of measures we’ve just announced and with the cooperation and support of Singaporeans. I think we probably will be able to avoid a second circuit breaker situation but we cannot rule that out. That is why we will continue to remain vigilant and will monitor the situation and adjust our measures as we go along.”

As the Covid-19 situation in Singapore continues to evolve, stay updated with the social distancing guidelines and measures in our coverage here.