All in-person visits to elderly residential care homes to be suspended from Sep. 13 to Oct. 11, 2021

MOH said that this is because seniors residing at residential care homes are typically frail and more vulnerable to Covid-19 complications.

Lean Jinghui | September 12, 2021, 04:31 PM

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The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that it has detected a recent increase in the number of Covid-19 cases amongst staff, clients and residents of aged care facilities.

In the last two weeks, 42 cases across 18 aged care facilities and providers were detected alone, the press release on Sep. 12 stated.

Enhanced measures will thus be taken to protect seniors residing at residential care homes, who are typically frail and more vulnerable to Covid-19 complications, in the coming weeks.

Temporary suspension of all in-person visits

To reduce the spread of Covid-19 in residential care homes, all in-person visits to residential care homes will be suspended from Sep. 13 to Oct. 11 (both dates inclusive), said MOH.

The temporary suspension of visitation will give MOH time to encourage more unvaccinated seniors to get vaccinated, and roll out the vaccine booster programme for residents of aged care facilities that was announced by the Multi-Ministry Task Force (MTF) on Sep. 10.

The testing regime for both staff and residents of aged care facilities will also be strengthened by using Antigen Rapid Tests (ART) more frequently, to complement the current surveillance testing in these settings.

MOH urged the next-of-kin of unvaccinated seniors in aged care facilities to support and encourage their loved ones in getting vaccinated.

"Unvaccinated seniors may suffer severe illness if infected.

It is also important for vaccinated seniors to receive the booster vaccination when it is made available, to ensure a continued high level of immunity and protection from severe disease."

It added that it will continue to observe the situation in the coming weeks, and review the suspension of visitation accordingly.

Top image via Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home Facebook