, Members of Parliament (MPs) were seated together without the mandatory one seat safe distancing rule){kind=link}
In a Parliamentary session today (4 Apr), Members of Parliament (MPs) were seated together without the mandatory one seat safe distancing rule in accordance with the easing of measures in Singapore.
Previous safe distancing measures meant that some MPs have to be seated in different levels to accommodate all.
Speaker of Parliament announced changes
Speaker of Parliament, Tan Chuan-Jin shared the changes with Members of the House at the start of the Parliamentary Session at 1:30pm today by noting that this is the first time since the 14th Parliament was open that all members were seated in the same floor together.
He added that he is pleased to see such a change and also thanked MPs who were seated at different floors differently for their understanding.
Even as Safe Distancing is now not required anymore, the current arrangements will allocate all MPs up into two different groups and they will also take their groups in accordance with the groups that they are allocated in.
While in Parliament House, all MPs will still have to abide to donning of their masks with exception given only to when they are delivering their speeches or asking their questions.
Another measure is that there are seats which are set aside in the Speaker’s gallery for MPs who are close contact of positive cases but have their test results return as negative.
A separate stand will also be allocated for those in this group.
Public galleries in Parliament will also be opened to the public who wish to view parliamentary sittings live.
Mr Tan also said that Parliament will continue to follow the latest advisories and measures and make the necessary changes whenever needed.
Image source: Google Maps, Tan Chuan-Jin/Facebook