Singaporeans With Health Risk Warnings And Alerts Can Collect ART Kits From 24-Hour Machines
Even as Singapore transitions to living with Covid-19, testing remains key in keeping our situation under control.
Return To Heightened Alert Only If ICU Cases Rise Sharply, S’pore Ramps Up Testing
From Saturday (18 Sep), individuals exposed to Covid-19 will be able to obtain ART kits from 24-hour vending machines islandwide.
This applies to those who receive heath risk warnings (HRW) or health risk alerts (HRA).
Individuals with health risk warnings must undergo 5 tests in 8 days
According to MOH, individuals will receive HRW and HRA based on their level of exposure to Covid-19 cases.
HRWs will be issued to those who have been identified as close contacts of Covid-19 cases while HRA will be issued to those whose SafeEntry records overlap with those belonging to Covid-19 patients.
Unlike those who receive HRAs, individuals with HRWs will first have to undergo a PCR test at either:
- Swab and Send Home (SASH) clinic
- Private clinic
They will also have to self-isolate until they obtain a negative result from the PCR test.
In addition to the PCR test, individuals with HRWs will have to self-administer ARTs on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th day from the last day they had exposure to the Covid-19 case.
On the 8th day, they will have to undergo another round of PCR tests at one of the clinics above.
Testing regimen for those with health risk alerts is less tedious
The procedure is less tedious for those with HRAs.
In essence, they skip both PCR tests and only have to self-administer ARTs on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th day from the last exposure.
They must, however, monitor their health until the 10th day.
Collect ART kits from 100 machines islandwide
To facilitate the ART procedure, individuals who receive either HRW or HRA will be able to collect self-test kits from 100 automated machines islandwide from Saturday (18 Sep).
These vending machines will run 24 hours a day, allowing individuals to collect their tests kits at any time of the day.
After scanning their NRIC or FIN, residents will be able to collect a pack containing 3 ART kits to fulfil their testing requirement.
To find out which ART kit machine is nearest to you, check out the website here.
Testing remains key
Even as we move to treat Covid-19 as an endemic disease, testing remains key to keep our daily cases under control and protecting our healthcare system.
We hope individuals who receive such health warnings and alerts will abide by the testing regimen to avoid spreading the disease to others if they’re infected.
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Featured image adapted from Ministry of Health on Facebook.
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