SINGAPORE - The authorities are beefing up their suite of Covid-19 home recovery services, such as telemedicine, the hotline and a buddy system, to support those who require help and advice on what to do.
The Singapore Armed Forces will help to clear the backlog of requests, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung at a press conference by the multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 on Friday (Sept 24).
The moves come amid a speedier rise in the number of Covid-19 cases than previously projected.
There has been a number of complaints from those on home recovery. Some were unable to get through to hotlines, while others said they waited a long time to hear from the authorities on the next step.
Today, over 40 per cent of infected persons are on home recovery.
Mr Ong laid out several steps to help address the issue at the press conference.
Apart from tapping the SAF for help, he said the Health Ministry has joined a Telegram chat group for those on home quarantine to help answer the questions and will expand the home recovery hotline team and beef up telemedicine resources, including roping in private providers.
When the home recovery programme is initiated, a home recovery buddy will be tagged to an infected person to help answer any questions. There were about 20 to 30 people on the home recovery hotline team, The Straits Times understands.
Those on home recovery can also access telemedicine, where the doctors can address medical-related queries such as those about the symptoms they have.
Mr Ong said that the Government has introduced measures, such as adding telemedicine to support those on home recovery, "but the high number of cases in the past couple of weeks struck us before we can fully put them into place".
Singapore piloted a home recovery programme for suitable infected Covid-19 persons from Aug 30 as the majority of the population here are vaccinated and have mild symptoms or are asymptomatic when infected. This move would ensure that hospital beds are kept for those who are severely ill.
Since Sept 18, when the home recovery programme kicked in for most infected persons here, new Covid-19 cases have mostly registered at above 1,000 a day. The daily total of 1,504 new cases on Thursday is the highest since the pandemic began, up from the previous high of 1,457 cases on Wednesday. There were just 177 new cases a day on Sept 1.
The authorities expanded its home recovery programme on Sept 18 to those aged between 12 and 69 who are fully vaccinated and do not have severe co-morbidities or illnesses. They will receive an SMS on what they should do at home. This will include the hotline of a home recovery buddy - 6874-4939 - to answer their questions.
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Unlike last year, most of the infected people this year have mild or no symptoms.
However, as daily new cases are reaching 1,600 a day and show no signs of slowing, which means that more vulnerable elderly persons may be infected, new restrictions have to be put in place, the authorities said.
If cases continue to rise at the same speed, Singapore will see 3,200 cases in a week's time, said Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong at the press conference.
Read next - Dining in capped at 2, WFH the default: Covid-19 rules from Sept 27
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