Quick Test Centres to allow supervised antigen rapid tests, infection record to be updated within 30 minutes
SINGAPORE — To relieve the caseload at clinics, people may take a supervised antigen rapid test at Quick Test Centres and have their positive Covid-19 record uploaded on the HealthHub mobile application within 30 minutes, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Tuesday (Feb 15).
SINGAPORE — To relieve the caseload at clinics, people may take a supervised antigen rapid test at Quick Test Centres and have their positive Covid-19 record uploaded on the HealthHub mobile application within 30 minutes, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Tuesday (Feb 15).
They may also get these test kits at Quick Test Centres, he added.
"So that way, I hope we can divert many of the very mild cases away from GP (general practitioner) clinics into the Quick Test Centres. We have about 200 Quick Test Centres now, all over, including in malls. We will start with about a quarter of them," Mr Ong said in Parliament.
Bookings for an appointment to get tested via an antigen rapid test will open by the end of Tuesday, Mr Ong added.
In a separate release on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the supervised rapid tests will be fully funded by the Government for four weeks from Feb 16 to March 15.
Individuals will be notified of their test result by phone via SMS.
Those who test positive will be classified as Protocol 2 infections and can each collect three antigen rapid test kits from vending machines. Protocol 2 cases are those who are well or assessed to have a mild condition.
"Under today’s health protocols, they are to self-isolate at home for at least 72 hours, and should visit a GP clinic only if they feel unwell. Once they feel well and test negative on their self-administered antigen rapid test, they may exit isolation to resume normal activities," MOH said.
"The Combined Test Centres and Quick Test Centres will not issue recovery memos or medical certificates as these are not required by employees and students to return to work or school," the ministry added.
From Wednesday, 48 centres will begin offering supervised antigen rapid tests, with the number ramping up to about 205 by the end of the week, MOH said.
In Parliament, Mr Ong acknowledged that GPs are facing “quite a bit of pressure”, with queues of patients forming outside their clinics.
“We have to help the GPs,” he said.
“Many patients who go to the GPs. The GPs feedback to us, (the patients) either have mild or no symptoms, but they self-tested, (got a positive result, then) decided, 'I better see a GP',” he said.
They do so to get a medical certificate, to get antigen rapid test kits or due to travel considerations.
“Many of them actually worry about travel. If they have to go through a polymerase chain reaction test… they want to show that actually I had Covid-19 and I'm a shedder (shedding the virus) and I recovered’,” Mr Ong said.
He was responding to Yio Chu Kang MP Yip Hon Weng who asked how healthcare workers and the healthcare system are coping with the increased number of infections from the Omicron infection wave.
The number of cases is within the Government’s expectations, Mr Ong reiterated. What is important now is not so much “topline” numbers, but how the numbers translate into disease severity and impact on healthcare capacity, he said.
Singapore's daily Covid-19 case count has hit five figures on some days. It reported 9,082 new infections as of noon on Monday.
“By and large, the healthcare system is coping well,” Mr Ong said, referring to the figures.
At the peak of the infection wave for the Delta coronavirus strain, 171 beds were occupied in intensive care units (ICUs) compared to the 23 in the latest figures despite registering 10,000 cases a day.
The pressure is not on the clinical side of healthcare, but on the operational side, Mr Ong said.
He added that the number of calls to helplines is also increasing, and with the support of other public agencies, more than 90 per cent of calls were answered without being dropped.
Members of the public may book their supervised self-administered antigen rapid test at https://go.gov.sg/community-ART-test. CNA
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