6 Covid-19 self-test kits to be mailed to each household

Each household in Singapore will soon receive six antigen rapid test (ART) self-test kits in the mail.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) will mail them via SingPost from today to Sept 27, as residents are urged to play a bigger role in managing the Covid-19 outbreak.

"As Singapore gradually transits to being a Covid-19-resilient nation, society will play an increasingly important role to manage the pandemic," said MOH in a statement.

"A major aspect is to exercise personal responsibility to self-test and monitor our own health status."

In a Facebook post, SingPost said the ART kits will be delivered to the letterboxes of residential units.

Residents can get a notification when their ART kits have been delivered by downloading the SingPost app, registering with their mobile number and verifying their residential address.

MOH said the distribution exercise is part of a broader strategy to step up testing efforts here, and more details will be shared in the coming week by the multi-ministry task force combating Covid-19.

MOH also said that as at Thursday, 79 per cent of Singapore's population have completed the full Covid-19 vaccination regimen.

Singapore is on track to meet the ministry's vaccination-rate target of 80 per cent by the end of this month, MOH said.

With the number of Covid-19 jabs administered dropping to less than a quarter of what it was at its peak, four out of the 37 mass vaccination centres here will be closed, MOH said. The peak number of doses given a day was previously reported to be 80,000.

Vaccination operations will shift to more public health preparedness clinics, and to mobile and home vaccination teams for seniors.

By the end of next month, the vaccination centres at Bukit Timah, Kolam Ayer, Marsiling and Yuhua community centres (CCs) will be closed. New bookings for Marsiling and Kolam Ayer CCs will stop from Sept 2, while those at Bukit Timah and Yuhua CCs will stop from Sept 9.

The number of public health preparedness clinics administering Covid-19 shots will increase from 65 to more than 80 next month.

Covid-19 testing subsidies for mandatory rostered routine testing will also be extended till Dec 31, MOH said.

The subsidies - which had previously been extended till Sept 30 - will cover routine tests for workers who live in dormitories; work in the construction, marine and process, aviation or maritime sectors; or work in settings with unmasked and vulnerable patrons, such as food and beverage establishments, personal care services, gyms and healthcare services.

Unvaccinated workers in the affected sectors are already subject to mandatory regular testing, said MOH. These mandated tests will continue to be subsidised by the Government.

The unvaccinated workers will have to pay for only the additional tests that are needed to meet the twice-a-week testing requirement under the vaccinate-or-regular-testing regimen from Oct 1.

But after this year, employers and businesses should be prepared to factor testing costs into their normal business operations, MOH said.

It added: "We will continue to review the testing subsidies to ensure they support our public health efforts, while sharing the costs equitably between taxpayers, employers and individuals."