Outdoor facility set up at Changi Exhibition Centre to house Covid-19 patients who do not require medical care

SINGAPORE — The grounds where aircraft used to be displayed during the biennial Singapore Airshow have been converted into a facility for foreign workers who have almost recovered from Covid-19 but cannot be discharged just yet.

The Community Recovery Facility, which is at the outdoor area of the Changi Exhibition Centre, can house up to 1,700 patients who do not require medical care and who remain well at the end of the 14th day of their illness.  

This facility is an expansion of the indoor Community Care Facility at the Changi Exhibition Centre, which serves 2,700 patients with mild or no symptoms of the coronavirus.

This is the first time that a recovery facility is located on the same grounds as a care facility. 

Other recovery facilities are located in areas such as military camps and Prince George’s Park Residences at the National University of Singapore, while care facilities include the Singapore Expo and D’Resort NTUC chalet in Pasir Ris.

The new recovery facility, which started operations on Thursday (June 4), currently has 500 patients. 

Patients who are clinically well at the end of two weeks will be transferred from Community Care Facilities to the recovery facility, which is currently only taking patients from the care facility at Changi Exhibition Centre.

They will be discharged from the recovery facility if they remain well by Day 21 of their illness without requiring further polymerase chain reaction tests for the virus.

However, they must remain in their respective accommodations, such as dormitories, for a further seven days before they return to work.

In its press release, the Changi Exhibition Centre facility committee said that having a care and recovery facility in the same compound will allow for a smoother experience for patients.

The committee is made up of nine organisations that are affiliated to the Ministry of Defence, such as the Singapore Discovery Centre, National Service Resort and Country Club, and Sembawang Country Club.

The area can also be converted into a Community Care Facility if necessary, it said. 

The latest expansion is part of the Government’s plans to have over 10,000 Community Recovery Facility bed spaces by the end of this month. As of early May, there were 2,000 beds. 

It took a week of planning and two weeks to build the new facility, which is 7,000 sq metres larger than the care facility, covering more than 40,000 square metres inclusive of its outdoor yard.

The recovery facility is divided into three coloured zones, similar to the indoor care facility. 

The red zone is where patients reside and only authorised personnel with personal protective equipment can enter.

The yellow zone is the transition area for personnel, food and other supplies, while the green zone is where the work and rest areas for staff and volunteers are located. 

There are eight to 10 beds in each room, with each resident getting a stand fan and storage cabinet. 

Wireless internet access, toilets and laundry areas have also been set up for patients. 

USE OF TECHNOLOGY 

Technological enhancements have also been introduced to improve efficiency and reduce the use of energy at the new facility. 

This includes an ultraviolet (UV) steriliser cabinet in the recovery facility, which allows healthcare workers to disinfect and reuse their surgical masks or other belongings they bring into the red zone. 

The cabinet can sterilise 30 items at a time. The sterilisation process takes 15 minutes and leaves items close to 100 per cent sterilised. 

The Community Recovery Facility also taps solar energy to offset its electricity needs. 

Due to the facility’s outdoor location, electricity to the living area has to be supplied with mobile diesel generators. 

To reduce the number of generators needed and carbon emissions from the use of these generators, about 1,130 solar panels have been installed to supply renewable energy.

In total, the panels produce a monthly output of about 40,000 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electrical energy to the recovery facility, equivalent to the average monthly energy use of 100 four-room Housing and Development Board flats. 

Energy from the solar panels currently supplies 20 per cent of the projected overall energy needs of the recovery facility. 

Of the total number of solar panels, 480 of these have been mounted on two of the tents, which were custom-built to support the weight of the panels.

The rest of the panels have been installed on the ground.

Mr Joseph Tan, who heads the infrastructure committee at Changi Exhibition Centre, said that as these panels shield the tent’s roof from the sun, the temperature in the tent is around 3 degrees Celsius cooler than the ambient temperature. 

Addressing the issue of patients who may have to deal with heat and rain as they will be living outdoors, Mr Tan said that in addition to individual fans allocated to each resident, the tents and partitions within have also been designed to allow a natural circulation of the land and sea breeze.

There are also rain curtains which residents can pull down in the event of a downpour. 

He added that he hopes the open space will help patients coming from the indoor Community Care Facility to feel “a little less cooped up”.

“With this concept we hope patients that come over will find their stay here a bit more pleasant,” said Mr Tan, who is also the executive director of Singapore Discovery Centre.