Indoor, mask-off sports and exercise activities will be allowed to resume in groups of two people - down from the previously announced groups of five - when the second stage of the economy's reopening begins on Monday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday.

This measure was tightened after the emergence of a major Covid-19 cluster at the Bukit Merah View market and food centre and other new Covid-19 cases.

MOH added that these "higher-risk activities" would be allowed to increase to group sizes of five from mid-July "barring another superspreader event or big cluster".

But indoor, mask-on activities and outdoor, mask-off activities will be allowed to go on in groups of five, limited to 30 people per class, including the instructor.

There is also no change to the class size for indoor, mask-off activities, which remains capped at 30 people, including the instructor, nor to other safety measures such as the mandated 2m gap between individuals.

All staff who work at gyms and fitness studios where clients are unmasked will be placed on a regular 14-day Fast and Easy Tests (FET) regimen, which will be made mandatory from around mid-July.

Most of the testing can be done through a system of self-swabs supervised by the employer. To help businesses get started, programmes will be set up to train designated employees to supervise antigen rapid test (ART) self-swabs for their staff. These will be free for the next three months.

ART kits will be made available to establishments for these employer-supervised self-swabs.

Jasmine Chong, co-founder of yoga and barre outfit Lab Studios, was relieved to receive some clarity as she had expected another delay to the reopening, given the increase in Covid cases.

The 32-year-old, who shifted her lessons online, said: "Being able to operate is something we're grateful for, it's at least a step forward."

Singapore Fitness Alliance president Sean Tan, a director of the True Group, welcomed the details for the FET regimen, noting that it is "well spaced out, ensuring safety without imposing too onerous requirements on gyms".

With stricter measures in place, the Government will extend the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) for affected sectors by three weeks, before tapering it down to 10 per cent for another two weeks. Eligible gyms and fitness studios can currently tap a 50 per cent wage support under JSS.

In a Facebook post, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong acknowledged that "it's a little disheartening and more than a tad frustrating that when we thought we could open up more, we had to pull back somewhat".

But he added, the emergence of the recent clusters "reflects just how fragile and unpredictable the current situation is".