Visits to residential care homes to be suspended from Sept 13 to Oct 11: MOH

[SINGAPORE] All in-person visits to residential care homes will be suspended for a month from Sept 13, as an additional measure to reduce the spread of Covid-19 in these places, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sunday.

The ministry said the suspension till Oct 11 will buy time to encourage more unvaccinated seniors to get vaccinated, as well as roll out the vaccine booster programme for residents of aged care facilities.

"We will also be strengthening the testing regime for both staff and residents/clients of aged care facilities, and will use Antigen Rapid Tests more frequently to complement the current surveillance testing in these settings," said MOH.

In a statement, MOH said there were 42 cases across 18 aged care facilities or providers in the last two weeks. "With the number of cases expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks, we need to take further action to protect the vulnerable seniors in these settings," said MOH, adding that it will observe the situation in the coming weeks and review the suspension of visitation accordingly.

THE STRAITS TIMES