SINGAPORE - The easing of Covid-19 safe management measures received widespread support, with Singaporeans most supportive of group size and household visitor limits going up to 10 people, according to a poll by consumer insight and analytics firm Milieu Insight.

The poll, carried out on Thursday (March 24), had 1,010 respondents aged 16 and above. The easing of measures was well received overall, with 77 per cent of participants seeing it as good news.

The most popular change was allowing up to 10 vaccinated people to dine out together, with 75 per cent of those polled supporting it, while 72 per cent were in favour of allowing up to 10 people at a time to visit a household.

Support for making masks optional outdoors was lower, with 52 per cent of those polled in favour of it.

The poll comes after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Thursday (March 24) the changes to safe management measures that will take effect from Tuesday (March 29), calling it a decisive but measured step forward towards living with Covid-19.

Besides increased group size limits for dining out and household visits, wearing masks outdoors will become optional - but it will remain mandatory indoors.

Up to 75 per cent of employees will be allowed to return to their workplaces. And capacity limits for larger events and settings with more than 1,000 people will be increased to 75 per cent as well.

When asked what they want to do more of in 2022 following the announcement, 66 per cent indicated dining out with friends, family and colleagues as the top activity, following by 65 per cent picking leisure travel as their top activity.

Noting the strong support for increasing group limits, Milieu Insight chief operating officer Stephen Tracy said: "I think this highlights the importance of community, and the fact that many Singaporeans are very much looking forward to spending more quality time with friends and family going forward, perhaps even making up for some lost time."

He added: "Travel also came through as a key theme, as many Singaporeans appear to have a strong desire to be able to travel more for leisure going forward, which signals great things for the travel sector."

The new announcements resulted in the strongest positive emotions recorded so far, across five previous polls on safe management measures, wrote Milieu Insight in its results. The strongest emotions felt following the announcement were happiness (38 per cent), optimism (35 per cent), hopefulness (34 per cent) and relief (33 per cent).