Those unvaccinated, or have unvaccinated elderly at home, should stay home as much as possible over next few weeks: MOH

Please extend assistance to unvaccinated elderly at home to see if they require necessities.

Alfie Kwa | July 19, 2021, 01:23 AM

The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that there will be further precautionary measures to protect the vulnerable, elderly people of Singapore from the Covid-19 surge in a press release on July 19.

They also urge unvaccinated individuals to get fully vaccinated to reduce their risk of serious illness from Covid-19.

MOH urges the elderly to get their vaccination

Those who are unvaccinated, or are vaccinated but have unvaccinated elderly people at home, should avoid crowded places or extensive social interactions. They are urged to stay at home as much as possible over the next few weeks.

This is because vaccinated people may still get infected with the virus and inadvertently bring the virus home to seniors.

MOH urges everyone eligible, especially seniors, to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Seniors can do walk-ins at any vaccine centre for their vaccinations.

They can also book an appointment through the vaccine.gov.sg website.

They also urge partially vaccinated individuals to bring forward their second dose appointments so they can be fully protected earlier.

Unvaccinated people at risk of serious illness from Covid-19

In its update in the (very) early hours of July 19, MOH shared that there are currently six Covid-19 cases suffering serious illness.

Five of them are in hospital, requiring oxygen supplementation.

One is in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

None of these six cases are fully vaccinated.

The elderly should stay at home as much as possible

Over the past weekend, MOH uncovered clusters in wet markets and hawker food centres, likely seeded by fishmongers and stallholders who visited the Jurong Fishery Port to collect their stock and sell at these markets and food centres.

"We urge members of the public to reach out to your elderly relatives or neighbours who remain unvaccinated to see what assistance they may require, e.g. to buy daily necessities," MOH said.

From July 19, group sizes for hawker centres, food courts, and coffee shops will be limited to two people.

"We are very concerned because our seniors tend to frequent the wet markets, as well as neighbourhood shops and food centres," said Lawerence Wong, co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce (MTF), in a Facebook post on July 18.

He advised that unvaccinated seniors should stay home as much as possible, and avoid going out unless for essential reasons.

The MTF will also tighten up measures to better manage access to the affected wet markets, along with existing measures like contact tracing.

You can see the post below:

 

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Top image via Lawerence Wong Facebook.