GEIS-新闻详情

Home isolation pilot programme for mildly ill Covid-19 patients to start from Aug 30

2021-08-19 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - Singapore will start a pilot programme for mildly ill Covid-19 patients to recover at home from Aug 30, as part of its gradual shift towards living with the disease.

People will qualify for the home isolation scheme if they have mild or no symptoms and can be isolated from the rest of the household, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (Aug 19).

However, such patients and their household members must meet certain stringent conditions.

For instance, everyone in the home must be fully vaccinated and must not belong to any vulnerable groups, such as pregnant women, the elderly or the immunocompromised. This is in line with the World Health Organisation's recommendations and the best practices of other developed countries, MOH said.

Speaking at a virtual press conference, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung described the pilot as a "crucial step" in Singapore's journey towards living with Covid-19 as an endemic disease.

He noted that Singapore currently has two layers of Covid-19 recovery care - hospitals, which care for 35 per cent of community cases, and community care facilities, which account for the rest.

At the same time, over 98 per cent of infected people who are fully vaccinated show mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, making it sensible to add a third layer allowing people to recover at home, he said.

“It is not a new concept. Countries like Australia, Canada, the UK... have done so and quite successfully,” Mr Ong added. “We have been a lot more cautious, but now that the great majority of our people are fully vaccinated, we should also take a step in this direction.”

The announcement comes as the number of daily Covid-19 cases continues to decline steadily, after the authorities imposed tighter restrictions on social interactions last month.

This means Singapore can continue with its planned reopening that will see more people returning to work or gathering at events, malls and attractions.

There is no change to the cap on dining in at food and beverage outlets - the limit remains at five for those who are fully vaccinated. Similarly, the cap of two people - regardless of vaccination status - for dining at hawker centres and coffee shops remains.

As at Tuesday, the country saw an average of 63 new cases a day in the past week, compared with nearly double that two weeks before.

"The number of cases that were isolated before detection has remained stable at around half of the total cases detected, while unlinked cases similarly remained stable at around a quarter of the total cases," the ministry said.

Giving more details on the home isolation pilot, MOH said all household members will be placed on home quarantine for as long as the patient is isolated.

They will be tracked through electronic monitoring and surveillance checks, and have to take daily antigen rapid tests in order to detect potential infection.