Stay-home notice cut to 14 days for travellers from high-risk areas: MOH

SINGAPORE - All new travellers arriving from high-risk countries and regions must be placed on a 14-day stay-home notice (SHN) from Wednesday (June 23) instead of 21 days at dedicated facilities.

However, they must take an antigen rapid test using self-test kits on the third, seventh and eleventh day after arriving in Singapore.

The Ministry of Health said in a statement on Wednesday that while there is increased transmissibility with the new variants of concern, it found no evidence - from both overseas and local data - that these variants come with longer incubation periods.

It added that since the 21-day SHN for all travellers with recent travel history to higher risk countries or regions was implemented from May 8, there were 270 imported cases among such travellers as of Tuesday.

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"All of them had incubation periods well within the 14-day window. As such, we will reduce the SHN period from 21 days back to 14 days," said MOH.

However, to identify potential infection cases early and provide infected travellers with appropriate medical care as soon as possible, travellers will be required to test themselves regularly with antigen rapid test self-test kits on Days 3, 7 and 11 of their arrival in Singapore, while serving their SHN.

This is on top of the Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests they have to take on arrival in Singapore, and on Day 14 of their arrival, before they finish their SHN.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.