Nursing home residents will be allowed one visitor a day for up to 30 minutes, and more senior-centric activities will be resumed progressively when the second phase of reopening the economy starts tomorrow.
However, the Ministry of Health (MOH) stressed that seniors should be extra careful during this time as they are more likely to become seriously ill when they are infected with Covid-19.
MOH said in a statement yes-terday: "In phase two, with more activities and interactions, there will likely be a higher risk of community transmission.
"Therefore, we encourage seniors to continue to stay home as much as possible and to limit their interactions to a small regular circle of close contacts."
Households may receive up to five visitors a day, and visitors of households with seniors should take extra care to maintain a safe distance from seniors and practise good hand hygiene. Seniors should continue to avoid peak hours if they need to go out.
At nursing homes, each resident will be allowed a maximum of two designated visitors to minimise the risk of infection within the nursing homes, though only one can visit each day.
Visitors had earlier been banned from nursing homes from April 2.
From tomorrow, visitors will be screened before entry, and should not visit if unwell. The total number of visitors allowed daily in a home will also be capped through appoin-tments, in particular during the initial period, such as the coming weekend, said MOH.
The visitor management measures will be reviewed in the coming weeks and adjusted accordingly depending on the risk of community transmission.
Nursing homes will also have to put in place additional precautionary measures to protect their residents, such as dedicated visitation areas or safe distancing measures.
MOH said senior-centric activities organised by the People's Association, Health Promotion Board, Sport Singapore and the Council for Third Age may also resume in phase two, though these will be limited to activities that can be done individually to keep interactions low. Participants will not be able to share equipment.
These activities include computer classes and health talks, and will be kept small with safe distancing measures in place.
MOH added that the second phase will also see restrictions eased to allow more seniors to take part in programmes run by senior activity centres and Community Resource, Engagement and Support Team (Crest) providers that resumed progressively in phase one.
Day-care services at most senior care centres and active ageing hubs will resume on June 29 to support seniors and their caregivers who have to return to work in phase two, said MOH. All care staff will be tested for the coronavirus before day-care services can resume.
So far, more than 3,600 staff of non-residential community care services have been tested, said MOH. All tests have returned negative.
Phase 2 guidelines
VISITS TO NURSING HOMES
• Visitors will be allowed from tomorrow.
• Each resident will be allowed two designated visitors, although only one can visit each day.
• Visits are limited to 30 minutes.
• The total number of visitors allowed daily in a nursing home will be capped through appointments, in particular during the initial period when visits are allowed again.
• Caregivers are encouraged to make appointments and visit over the following weeks, rather than rush to do so once allowed.
SENIOR-CENTRIC ACTIVITIES
• Selected senior-centric activities organised by the People's Association, Health Promotion Board, Sport Singapore and the Council for Third Age may resume in phase two.
• These are activities that can be done individually, with no equipment-sharing between participants.
ELDERCARE SERVICES
• Day-care services at most senior care centres and active ageing hubs to resume on June 29.
• All care staff will be tested for Covid-19 before such services resume.
• Providers will contact clients and caregivers to make necessary arrangements to return to the centre.
