S'pore hospital visitors who need to stay more than 20 minutes must take Covid-19 test from June 21

Visitors must test negative before they are allowed entry for longer periods.

Belmont Lay | June 21, 2021, 12:32 PM

Visitors to Singapore hospitals who are allowed to stay for more than 20 minutes will be required to undergo a Covid-19 antigen rapid test (ART) from Monday, June 21.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said in response to media queries that hospitals may allow selected extension of visitation time "under extenuating circumstances".

Selected visitors only

This applies to visitors of critically ill patients, patients requiring additional care support, patients lacking mental capacity, and mothers who are giving birth or have given birth.

Visitors involved in caregiver training are also allowed to stay for longer durations.

Currently, each visit to public and private healthcare institutions should not last more than 20 minutes to mitigate any risk of infection within healthcare institutions.

On-site testing before entry

Visitors who are allowed to stay for longer durations must undergo an ART on-site before approval for the extended visit is given, using test kits provided by hospitals.

This measure applies to those who have been vaccinated or not.

The ART is subsidised by MOH and may be administered as a self-swab under the supervision of hospital staff, or by hospital staff.

Visitors must test negative before they are allowed entry for longer periods.

The ART test result will be valid for 24 hours.

Exemption rule

Visitors can be exempted from undergoing the ART by showing the result of their polymerase chain reaction test taken in the last 24 hours.

All hospitals will require test

The Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Changi General Hospital will begin implementing these measures from Monday.

The National University Hospital, Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and Alexandra Hospital will implement the measures from Tuesday.

All these hospitals come under the National University Health System.

Top photo via Google Maps