More Covid-19 patients to recover at home as the default from Sep 18; 100 vending machines dispensing ART kits rolled out

RECOVERING at home will be the default care management model for a wider group of infected Covid-19 patients from Saturday.

They can begin Home Recovery immediately, without having to be first conveyed to a hospital or Community Care Facility, the Health Ministry (MOH) said in a statement on Friday.

These people must be fully vaccinated; be aged between 12 and 69 years and have no severe co-morbidities or illnesses. They must also be able to self-isolate in a room, preferably with an attached bathroom; and have no household members who are older than 80 or are in one of the vulnerable groups.

Home Recovery has been the default care management model for suitable Covid-19 patients aged under 50 since Sept 15.

A total of 597 fully vaccinated patients, including 13 children aged from five to 11, have gone through this scheme. This is nearly a third of the community cases for the past two days. Since the pilot began on Aug 30, 32 of them have been discharged.

Separately, MOH said they are deploying 100 vending machines across 56 locations to support distribution of antigen rapid test (ART) kits. These machines will be operational from Saturday.

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Those who receive a Health Risk Warning (HRW) or Health Risk Alert (HRA) can scan their Singapore-issued ID to collect a pack of three kits from the machines and use these for self-testing.

From Saturday, those who receive an HRA SMS notification must do an ART test on the first, third and fifth day from the day of last exposure to the case whom they were potentially close contacts with, and monitor their health until the tenth day of exposure.

Everyone who has been issued a HRW or a HRA can use these kits to perform the required ART tests.

They will still need to get an entry polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test at a Swab and Send Home clinic or private practitioner, and self-isolate until they receive a negative result from their first PCR test. They will also need to take an exit PCR test on or after the eighth day.