S’pore to pilot home isolation for fully vaccinated Covid patients

Singapore, Aug 20 (SocialNews.XYZ) Singapore will pilot a home isolation for fully vaccinated Covid-19 patients with mild or no symptoms soon, the Ministry of Health said in statement.

With much more local and global data showing that fully vaccinated Covid-19 patients have a much lower risk of developing severe disease, "we are piloting a home-centric care model" from August 30, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement issued on Thursday as saying.

These patients will spend the first few days in a medical facility before moving to home isolation.

By then, the viral loads of vaccinated patients would have dropped, said the Ministry.

The patients and their household members must both be fully vaccinated and must not belong to any vulnerable groups, such as the elderly or immunocompromised.

These patients also need to have a suitable home setting, where they can be isolated from the rest of their household, the Ministry added.

During Home Isolation, the patients and their household members are required to remain in their place of residence, and the patients will be provided with access to 24/7 telemedicine services.

The patients will be subject to a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) swab on the ninth day of illness to determine if they could be discharged from isolation, while all household members will be placed on a daily Antigen Rapid Test (ART) testing regimen for early detection of potential infection.

The Ministry said they would closely monitor the pilot's outcomes, and study if more patients may benefit from this mode of recovery in a safe manner.

It also announced Thursday a series of measures to further ease the community measures to contain the spread of the virus.

The easing involves mainly increasing the size of masked-on events and religious services.

According to the Ministry, 77 per cent of the population has received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and 82 per cent has received at least one dose.

Source: IANS