Singapore (VNA) - Singapore could enter the third phase of itsreopening by the 🅷end o🥃f this year, provided that community cases remain low asthe country steps up COVID-19 testing and contact tracing.

As part of the third phase,the permitted size of gatherings outside homes could be increased from fivepeople to eight, said the multi-ministry task force handling the pandemic onOctober 20. Similarly, householdscould be allowed to have up to eight visitors at a time, enabling largerfamilies to congregate. On top of that,capacity limits in venues such as museums and places of worship and for weddingreceptions may be increased, with multiple zones of 50 people permitted. Singaporean EducationMinister Lawrence Wong, whoco-chairs the task force, said toenter the third phase, Singapore will have to keep its guard up and meetseveral key conditions. COVID-19 testing will becarried out on a larger scale to allow more activities to resume. The same day, Singaporean Ministryof Health's Director of Medical Services Kenneth Mak said the country ismost likely to make plans to vaccinate different segments of the populationagainst COVID-19 from next year. Those who are morevulnerable to the coronavirus and thoseat higher risk of getting infected, such ashealthcare professionals and others in front-line roles, may get priority forvaccination./.