Omicron in Singapore means home isolation and self-testing 'without anyone checking on you'
When Nathanael Yau tested positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago in Singapore using a home rapid antigen test kit, referred to as ART, the 30-year-old knew he would need to cancel all activities outside and immediately self-isolate. With 88 per cent of the population having had two shots of a Covid-19 vaccine and 56 per cent receiving a booster, since October 11, patients with mild or no symptoms have been told to recover at home. This is to free up health care capacity as the country transitions to living with the virus. One-third of children aged five to 11 have taken at least one shot of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine though such vaccinations are not compulsory to attend school. Yau, a project manager, ended up being among three of five household members who came down with the Omicron variant, which is now the dominant strain in the city state of 5.45 million people. His brother was the first to fall ill after returning from a 10-day holiday in Australia, where he made use of one of the country's 24 quarantine-free travel arrangements for vaccinated passengers. There was some initial confusion over whether Yau would need to report his infection to the authorities (he did not have to, as he had only mild symptoms and had received two shots of the Moderna vaccine). But he managed to find the rest of the protocols online on a government website. "There is a lot of responsibility placed on the people who fall sick. You must be responsible and stay home and isolate yourself without anyone checking on you," Yau said.
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It's a far cry from the situation in Hong Kong where growing infection clusters from superspreading events have sparked a new wave of infections - both Omicron and Delta - prompting localised lockdowns in residential estates. All who test positive are sent to hospital even if they are asymptomatic. Government quarantine centres have also become overwhelmed by a surge of close contacts shoehorned into the facilities.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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