PAP to resume physical meet-the-people sessions next week

SINGAPORE: The People's Action Party (PAP) will resume physical meet-the-people sessions and branch activities on Monday (Aug 23) with the recent easing of COVID-19 restrictions.

"We still encourage our residents to get in touch with us by phone or virtually as the primary mode. This will help us to avoid congregation of people," the party said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

The PAP in early May advised its branches to hold meet-the-people sessions virtually or by phone given rising COVID-19 community cases at the time.

MP for Marine Parade Tan Chuan-Jin wrote in a Facebook post that he was "glad" the "prevailing conditions" allowed the restart of physical meet-the-people sessions, adding that the past months of virtual sessions have been "tough".

"We will continue to pay close attention to safety measures but if some of you prefer to, you can continue to email and WhatsApp us as before, rather than come down in person," he wrote.

Singapore entered a period of tighter community restrictions under Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) from May until June, and again from July to August.

Since Aug 10, restrictions have been eased to allow dining-in, social gatherings of up to five people and some larger events.

On Thursday, the Health Ministry said that it would go ahead with a planned second step of the easing of measures, given the stable COVID-19 situation.

Singapore reported 29 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases on Thursday, including 13 unlinked infections.