World News | Curbs on the Number of Visitors at Hospitals, Residential Care Homes from Oct 14 as COVID-19 Cases Rise in Singapore

Singapore, Oct 12 (PTI) Singapore government on Wednesday said curbs will be imposed on the number of visitors at hospitals and residential care homes from Friday as the affluent city-state grapples with a surge in COVID-19 cases.

From October 14 until November 10, patients in hospitals will only be allowed to have two pre-designated visitors for the duration of their stays, the Straits Times newspaper said, quoting the Ministry of Health (MOH).

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Critically ill patients will be allowed up to five pre-designated visitors, of which two can be at their bedside at any one time, the report said. Each visit will be limited to 30 minutes.

These restrictive measures come after Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Tuesday said Singapore was watching the XBB strain of the COVID-19 “very closely”.

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"XBB is demonstrating characteristics that it is dominating over all other sub-variants. It has been detected in many parts of the world but in Singapore is rising very fast – within three weeks from nothing, it is now over half of all the daily cases," he said.

"But so far, what is good is that there's no evidence that it leads to more severe outcomes," news portal Channel News Asia quoted the minister as saying.

The MOH said the tightened measures are to protect healthcare capacity and the vulnerable during surge in cases.

It added that the hospital emergency departments are seeing a high number of patients on a daily basis, according to the report.

Members of the public are advised to head there only for emergency conditions, it said.

Those who turn up at the emergency department with non-emergency conditions, even if they are children, may be asked to go to other clinics instead, it added.

"We will review and calibrate these measures regularly in line with the evolving COVID-19 situation," the MOH said in a statement.

"We seek the understanding and cooperation of patients, residents, and their family members and loved ones as we work to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission in our healthcare institutions," it added.

Singapore reported 11,732 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday, more than double the 4,719 new local cases the day before, according to media reports.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)