Rapid Covid-19 self-tests must become 'a way of life' in Singapore: Govt taskforce

SINGAPORE aims to make testing for Covid-19 "a way of life", members of the multi-ministry taskforce on Covid-19 said at a briefing on Friday, when the Republic reported 216 new locally transmitted cases of the deadly novel coronavirus.

As such, the authorities are looking into the wider use of antigen rapid tests (ARTs) at workplaces, and such tests will be made more available to the public as well.

Routine testing is already mandated for workers in "high-risk settings" such as eateries and gyms using ARTs, and for workers such as those in construction, marine and process sectors using more accurate laboratory-based tests.

But the Ministry of Health (MOH) has now urged everyone in Singapore, including fully vaccinated individuals, to self-test regularly with ART kits.

Singapore's tripartite partnership - that is, representatives of employees, employers and the government - are now looking into guidelines on how to boost "the more pervasive use of ARTs at workplaces" as work-from-home arrangements wind down.

This is on top of the mandatory testing in higher-risk industries, and the "vaccinate or regular test" regime modelled by the public sector, which allows employers to exclude medically eligible but unvaccinated from medical benefits associated with Covid-19.

The latest measures are geared at "making testing a new norm and making testing more pervasive", said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, one of the three Covid-19 taskforce co-chairs. Noting Singapore's high vaccination rate, he added that "we should now aspire to be a nation of testing, where testing becomes a way of life".

From Oct 1, the public will be able to make appointments for testing at 20 "quick test centres" islandwide, which previously served mainly freelancers and small-business staff who needed a supervised self-swab ART to meet rostered testing requirements.

Those who test positive either at their self-paid quick test or through ART self-tests should visit a swab-and-send-home clinic for a government-funded lab test.

"We will also study the setting up of more testing sites across the island, so that it will be easier for people to get themselves tested regularly," the MOH added in its statement.

Besides six commercially available ART self-test kits already approved by the Health Sciences Authority, the MOH is also reviewing new kits for sale to the public "and will continue to make such self-test kits more readily accessible", it said.

The news came as MOH announced that Singapore will stay in the "preparatory" or first stage of its four-step move towards endemic Covid-19 for an unspecified period, "while we refine our public health measures and embark on pilot projects" such as vaccinated travel lanes and at-home recovery for infected individuals.

Read more:

• Vaccine booster shots to start in September for immunocompromised, those 60 and above
• Singapore remains in preparatory stage, no further loosening of Covid-19 curbs for now