SINGAPORE, June 19 — From mid-July, all staff members who work in higher-risk settings will have to be tested for Covid-19 once every 14 days.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) said yesterday (June 18) that these are workers who work in places where there are unmasked clients or patrons, or where there is prolonged contact between individuals.
These include:
― Dine-in food-and-beverage (F&B) establishments
― Personal-care service providers such as spas, saunas, massage establishments, hairdressers and those offering facial, nail or make-up services
― Gyms and fitness studios where clients are unmasked
MoH noted in its press release that some F&B establishments have already sent their employees for training on how to conduct these tests and are ready to roll out regular testing progressively from next Monday, while the fast and easy tests (FET) regime will be made mandatory for all workers in the above sectors from “around mid-July”.
“We expect that most of the FET can be done through a system of self-swabs supervised by the employer,” MoH said. Workers can use tests such as the antigen rapid test.
To support establishments in their efforts to get started on FET, MoH has set up training programmes that companies may tap to train supervisors in their establishments to supervise antigen rapid test self-swabs for their staff members.
These supervisor training programmes will be provided at no cost to these establishments for the next three months.
Antigen rapid test kits will also be made available to establishments for these employer-supervised self-swabs.
There may be small businesses who are unable to organise the supervised self-swabs on their own, MoH said.
Hence the ministry will also set up Quick Test Centres to support those who need to be tested.
“We will start with one each at Tekka and Yishun, which will be operational from June 21, 2021. More Quick Test Centres will be progressively set up.”
To further minimise the risks of transmission in these settings, the Government will facilitate earlier vaccination of individuals who work in these settings.
The relevant government agencies will provide more information on the regular FET requirements to the identified sectors, MoH added. ― TODAY
