SINGAPORE - Stricter vaccination-differentiated rules will be introduced on Wednesday (Oct 13) as part of a move to protect unvaccinated individuals in the community from Covid-19 and reduce the strain on Singapore's healthcare system.

These measures include allowing only vaccinated individuals into shopping malls - which also house a number of gyms - and standalone stores that are not supermarkets.

Here are the answers to some questions you might have regarding the measures in place for sports activities and at sports venues:

Q: Who is considered fully vaccinated?

A: An individual is considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the full regimen of Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty, Moderna or other World Health Organisation Emergency Use Listing vaccines.

Those who have recovered from Covid-19 or have obtained a negative Covid-19 pre-event test result taken 24 hours before the event are also considered vaccinated.

Q: Are there vaccination-differentiated safe management measures at sports facilities?

A: Vaccination-differentiated safe management measures (VDS) are implemented only for facilities offering indoor unmasked activities and/or indoor facilities providing common equipment.

At ActiveSG facilities which implement these rules, unvaccinated individuals with a valid negative pre-event test result or recovered individuals who are of similarly lower risk are allowed to participate in activities.

ActiveSG stadiums and swimming pools that are outdoors admit people regardless of vaccination status.

The Singapore Sports Hub introduced these measures at the OCBC Arena in August this year, taking guidance from respective agencies on safe management measures applicable to its other venues and programmes.

Q: Are fully vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals allowed to share exercise equipment?

A: For outdoor facilities, operators can provide common equipment for their participants, while vaccination-differentiated measures need to be implemented at indoor facilities before common equipment can be made available.

Operators will have to verify the vaccination status of all participants, and ensure that only fully vaccinated individuals will be allowed to participate in indoor unmasked activities.

Even if an indoor facility does not offer unmasked activity, it will have to institute checks on vaccination status upon entry if common equipment is provided at that facility.

In instances where activities are indoors and equipment is provided, vaccinated and unvaccinated persons are allowed to be in the same group of two individuals as long as they remain masked up.