Singapore to pilot home isolation for mildly ill COVID-19 patients from end of August
Singapore (VNA) – Singapore’s Ministry of Health
said the country will pilot home isolation for people who are infected with
coronavirus and have mild or no symptoms from August 30.
Speaking at a press conference on August 19, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung
said the pilot is a crucial step in Singapore’s journey towards living with
COVID-19 as an endemic disease, the Straits Times reported.
Singapore currently has two layers of COVID-19 recovery care
- hospitals, and community care facilities, he said, adding that the pilot aims
to add a third layer to allow patients with mild symptoms to recover at home
and free up resources and hospital beds.
However, to qualify for a home isolation scheme, the
patients and their family members must meet certain conditions. For example,
everyone in their home must be fully vaccinated and must not belong to any
vulnerable groups such as pregnant women or the elderly.
The COVID-19 patients will be treated at a medical facility
for a few days, then will be allowed to stay in isolation at home when the amount of
SARS-CoV-2 virus in the body decreases. In addition, all family members will
have to be quarantined at home until the infected person recovers.
The announcement comes as the number of daily COVID-19 cases
continues to decline steadily after tighter measures introduced last month
proved to be effective.
As of August 17, the country saw an average of 63 new cases
a day in the past week, about half of the figure two weeks before.
On the same day, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore
announced that the country will allow quarantine-free entry from next month to
travelers from Germany and Brunei who are vaccinated against COVID-19, as part
of a plan to gradually reopen its borders.
Border restrictions
will also be gradually eased for all visitors from the Chinese territories of Hong Kong
and Macau from August 21, the agency said./.