Singapore relaxes COVID travel curbs,

Masks will not be required to be worn on public transport as authorities lowered the disease outbreak response level to "green" from "yellow", indicating COVID-19 is not threatening. However, masks will still be mandatory in healthcare settings, where there is interaction with patients and in indoor patient-facing areas.

Singapore: Singapore will drop a requirement for travellers who are not fully vaccinated to show COVID test results or purchase coronavirus travel insurance from Feb 13, the government's virus taskforce said on Thursday.

Masks will also not be required to be worn on public transport, the health ministry said in a statement, as authorities lowered the disease outbreak response level to "green" from "yellow", indicating COVID-19 is not threatening.

However, masks will still be mandatory in healthcare settings, where there is interaction with patients and in indoor patient-facing areas.

"Within Singapore our COVID situation has remained stable over the recent months, despite increased travel over the year-end holidays and China's shift from zero COVID," Lawrence Wong, deputy prime minister and co-chair of the virus taskforce, told a media briefing.
"Our population has developed a high level of hybrid immunity," he said.

Around 80% of the city-state's 5.6 million population have achieved minimum COVID-19 vaccination protection, and around half are up to date with their additional booster shots, health ministry data showed.

"We've had to deal with many unexpected curveballs and surprises along the way. But we managed to reach this point together because we all did our part," Wong said.

The public can also remove COVID-19 contact-tracing apps, and the government has deleted identifiable data from its servers and database, health minister Ong Ye Kung said. Since April last year, Singapore had lifted most of its COVID-19 restrictions with many international events returning to the city-state, attracting tourists and businesses.

The Asian financial hub is expecting the tourism sector to recover to pre-pandemic levels by 2024.

Majority of COVID deaths attributed to older people: WHO analysis
This new analysis underscores the importance of increased efforts to ensure all older adults receive all doses they need of COVID-19 vaccines, including primary series and booster doses as recommended by WHO and national health authorities: WHO

New Delhi: 80 per cent of COVID deaths occurred among people aged more than 60 years, an analysis of the COVID pandemic, which was first detected in Wuhan, China has found and stressed on the importance of vaccine coverage for older people.

"This new analysis underscores the importance of increased efforts to ensure all older adults receive all doses they need of COVID-19 vaccines, including primary series and booster doses as recommended by WHO and national health authorities," the WHO has said.

The data on primary vaccination shot in older adults is short of WHO goals

"COVID-19–associated mortality among persons aged ≥60 years exceeded 80 per cent of total COVID-19 mortality in 2020 and 2021 across all income groups; however, the median reported completed primary series coverage among older adults in 2022 was 76 per cent, substantially below the WHO goal, especially in middle- and low-income countries," the US CDC has said.

“These vaccines have been found to be safe and highly effective in reducing severe COVID-19, hospitalizations and mortality; however, despite available evidence on effectiveness reported COVID-19 vaccination coverage among older adults has not yet come close to the WHO goal of 100 per cent in many parts of the world,” the study said.

COVID vaccines were approved by the WHO in December 2020 less than a year after the first case of COVID was reported.

The US CDC report stresses on the importance of vaccine booster doses as well. "As the fourth year of the pandemic begins, vaccine booster doses have been shown to restore or enhance protection against infection, symptomatic disease, and severe disease, beyond that originally afforded by the primary series," the report says.