'I was taken aback': From staycations to Hari Raya celebrations, Singaporeans shelve plans after new Covid-19 measures

Planning a staycation one month ago, only for it to be cancelled at the last minute can be one's worst nightmare. For Republic Polytechnic (RP) student Axel Lew and his friends, that's exactly what happened.

New Covid-19 measures known as Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) were announced on Friday (May 14). The latest rules, which apply from May 16 to June 13, only allow two people to be in social gatherings, down from five people previously.

Any form of dining in is also prohibited so as to curb the spread of the coronavirus due to Singapore seeing its highest number of community infections this month.

For Lew and many other disappointed Singaporeans, the tightened measures meant bidding farewell to all their pre-planned social gatherings.

"I was taken aback," the 20-year-old said, "when I found out about the new measures."

[[nid:529009]]

He told AsiaOne: "We had been planning this staycation for a month and had paid a total of over $300 for one night at Lyf Funan. With the new measures, we are forced to push our plans back as my stay dates were to be before June 13."

Lew and two of his friends made plans for a staycation as they had wanted to use their SingapoRediscovers Vouchers that were originally going to expire at the end of June.

With the new measures limiting gatherings to just two people, he was forced to cancel his plans while contacting the hotel to see if there are alternatives.

Meanwhile, journalist Kwok Kar Peng, 44, will proceed with her staycation plans this weekend with her husband and son. After checking with Yotel Singapore, she was told her family can proceed because they live together. 

She said: “I think we would have to go home separately in two groups after we’ve checked out on Sunday so that people won’t ‘Stomp’ us when the three of us travel together.” 

With dining in no longer an option, many like RP student Nur Tiara are finding it harder to meet up with her busy friends whom she had not seen for a few months.

The 19-year-old said: "We initially had plans to go cafe-hopping around Singapore to try out new food but unfortunately, we had to cancel as we are a group of three."

Nur Tiara is disappointed as the date the new rules kick in is the only time her friends and her are free to catch up.

"Though it is quite unfortunate, I am grateful that my other plans such as to exercise outdoors are not disrupted by these measures," she added.

Cancelled Hari Raya plans

Most Singaporean Muslims revised their visiting plans for Hari Raya Aidilfitri on May 12, after tightened measures that started on May 8. With the latest rules, most are forced to cancel their plans due to the new social gathering limit.

[[nid:528477]]

For student Hakim Razak, he had hopes that his family could still go visiting.

Mindful of the household capacity limit, he had even called each household to seek permission to visit – and to confirm that there will be no one visiting prior to his family's visit.

But his family had to quickly cancel the plans to avoid overcrowding and apologise to relatives following the announcement of a further tightening of Covid-19 measures on Friday afternoon.

"Some of our relatives were not aware of the measures and were thankful that we had told them in advance," the 21-year-old said.

He added: "Although we were quite disappointed in the sudden change of plans, we understood the severity of it.

"We are still in the midst of discussing but we decided that our parents should be the one visiting instead of us as this festive event means more to them since it is the season to ask for forgiveness."

mardhiahhaslan@asiaone.com