Explainer | What you need to know about Singapore’s looming ‘holiday season’ Covid wave
- Singapore has embraced a post-pandemic transition, thanks to its high vaccination rate and a mass roll-out of ‘bivalent’ booster shots
- Authorities urged citizens not to be complacent, but also indicated the country is past the phase of tightening rules each time there is threat of a new wave
With one of the world’s highest rates of vaccination and an ongoing mass roll-out of “bivalent” booster shots that targets the original strain and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, the city state is heading into the busy holiday season with a festive fervour.
Last weekend, the country’s top dance festival ZoukOut – graced by the likes of Dutch DJ Tiesto and Singapore’s Wukong – returned with a bang with more than 30,000 partygoers attending the two-day event.
New Year’s Eve festivities will also be back after a two-year hiatus. In the pre-pandemic era, some 500,000 people would gather around the island state’s glitzy Marina Bay district to usher in the new year and enjoy the fireworks display.
Authorities have urged citizens not to become complacent, but at the same time, have given indications that the country is well past the phase of needing to tighten social gathering rules each time there is a threat of a new wave.
