Singapore COVID home recovery extended to all cases aged 5 to 49
SINGAPORE – The Home Recovery Programme (HRP) will be extended to unvaccinated persons aged 12 to 49 years, vaccinated persons aged 70 to 79, and children aged five to 11.
This means that from 10 October, HRP will be the default care arrangement for everyone who has COVID, except for:
partially or unvaccinated individuals aged 50 years and older
vaccinated persons 80 years and older
children aged less than one year old
children aged one to four years old who have been assessed to be clinically unsuitable for home recovery
In a virtual press conference on Saturday (9 October), the COVID multi-ministry taskforce said that more people have become familiar with the HRP, including healthcare professionals.
This will also allow for better prioritisation of resources in hospitals to take care of the severely ill or vulnerable patients, without compromising care to those who may be younger with milder or no symptoms.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that since the start of the HRP on 15 September, "more than 19,000 individuals have been recovering at home, of which more than 8,000 have fully recovered and been discharged".
Individuals who are on HRP will continue to have round-the-clock access to medical support, the ministry said.
This may be available through existing telemedicine providers as well as a strengthened network of medical support with the Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) or polyclinics who have come onboard the programme to help provide continuity of care for their patients. For non-medical assistance, individuals can reach out to the Home Recovery Buddy Hotline at 6874 4939.
Timed discharge from home recovery
Those on HRP will also be discharged based on the time since diagnosis.
For vaccinated individuals and children aged 12 years and below, the HRP isolation period will last for 10 days, the MOH said.
The HRP isolation period for unvaccinated individuals above 12 years old will last for 14 days.
Thereafter, they will be provided with an electronic discharge memo upon the end of their isolation period. For simplicity, the MOH said, the Day 7 discharge for vaccinated persons based on a PCR test that is negative, or of low viral load, will be removed.
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