15th Feb 2022
To ease the pressure on our General Practitioner (GP) clinics and polyclinics and allow them to focus on patients who genuinely require medical attention, from 16 February to 15 March 2022 [1], persons who test positive for COVID-19 on their self-administered Antigen Rapid Test (ART), and have no or mild symptoms, can book an appointment at any Combined Test Centre (CTC) or Quick Test Centre (QTC) to do a supervised self-administered ART.
2. In recent weeks, GP clinics, polyclinics and hospitals have continued to report a surge in the number of patients, many with no or mild symptoms visiting to get an ART conducted by a medical professional and officially documented in the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) records. The hospitals’ Emergency Departments have similarly received many patients who are not in need of emergency medical assistance. These visits are not necessary, and risk compromising the standard of care for those who genuinely require medical attention.
3. From tomorrow, these individuals can do their supervised self-administered ART at CTCs and QTCs located island-wide. We will start with 48 centres, and ramp up to about 205 by the end of the week. These supervised self-administered ARTs will be fully funded by the Government for these 4 weeks.
4. The ART test results will be updated in MOH’s record and reflected in their HealthHub within about 30 minutes. The CTCs and QTCs will not issue recovery memos or medical certificates as these are not required by employees and students to return to work or school.
5. Persons will be notified of their ART test result over SMS. Upon testing positive on the supervised self-administered ART, these persons will be placed under Protocol 2 and can each collect three ART kits from vending machines [2]. Under today’s health protocols, they are to self-isolate at home for at least 72 hours, and should visit a GP clinic only if they feel unwell. Once they feel well and test negative on their self-administered ART, they may exit isolation to resume normal activities.
6. Members of the public can book their supervised self-administered ART at https://go.gov.sg/community-ART-test.
7. We seek everyone’s continued effort and cooperation to do our part to preserve our medical resources for those who are in need.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
15 FEBRUARY 2022
[1] To be further reviewed for extension.
[2] Visit gowhere.gov.sg/art for the vending machine locations.
Locations of Combined Test Centres and Quick Test Centres