Starting 1 Jun, the TraceTogether token or app will become a pre-requisite to entering places such as workplaces, schools and shopping centres.
In a joint statement on Thursday (22 Apr), the Smart Nation and Digital Governance Office and the Ministry of Health said that this mandatory use of TraceTogether is set in view of the near-complete take-up rate of the contact tracing system, at over 90 per cent of the population.
With this TraceTogether requirement, the existing SafeEntry check-ins in individual retail establishments such as supermarkets inside large malls will be removed, making way for a TraceTogether-only SafeEntry (TT-only SE).
“This is because all visitors would have already performed TT-only SE check-in at the mall entrances, and the interactions at these venues within the malls are generally more transient,” said MOH and SNDGO.
Small retail outlets such as pharmacies and convenience stores that were not required to implement SafeEntry for customers but have voluntarily done should also remove their check-ins to ease the process for their patrons.
Other methods of checking in via SafeEntry such as scanning a venue’s SafeEntry QR code using a phone camera or the SingPass app will also be discontinued starting 1 Jun.
In October last year, the multi-ministry task force on COVID-19 announced that checking in with the TraceTogether app or token will be made compulsory at all public venues in Singapore, including restaurants, workplace, schools and shopping malls, by end of Dec 2020.
However, on 14 Dec last year, MOH said that compulsory check-ins will be pushed forward to “early” this year, without giving a specific date.
