• If you have mild acute respiratory infection, you should recover at home with appropriate infection prevention control measures.

• If you are unwell, but need to leave your home, please adopt all the following precautions:

  • Always wear a mask.

  • Avoid crowded places, including hospitals and nursing homes.

  • Avoid contact with vulnerable persons such as the elderly.

• If you have severe, prolonged, or worsening ARI symptoms, you should seek medical help.

  • Medically vulnerable persons (i.e. seniors and those with chronic medical conditions) that have ARI symptoms, as well as persons with severe, prolonged or worsening ARI symptoms, should see a doctor. The updated advisory for persons who are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 can be found at this link.

  • Persons with mild ARI symptoms should stay at home until symptoms resolve.

• If you test positive with an ART test, you should regard yourself as being infected with COVID-19.

  • Avoid close contact with others while still symptomatic. You may return to normal activities when your symptoms resolve.

• If you have a need to go out while symptomatic, please exercise social responsibility to avoid infecting others

  • Wear a mask, minimise your social interactions and avoid crowded places, do not visit vulnerable settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, and avoid contact with vulnerable persons, such as the elderly.

From 1 March 2024, MOH will step down the masking requirements at lower-risk healthcare settings. Mask-wearing will no longer be compulsory for patients, visitors and staff in outpatient settings, including polyclinics, General Practitioner clinics, specialist outpatient clinics, dialysis centres, Traditional Chinese Medicine clinics and dental clinics. However, mask-wearing is still strongly encouraged for medically vulnerable persons, seniors and persons with acute respiratory infection (ARI) in these settings.

To protect medically vulnerable persons and seniors, mask-wearing will continue to be required for higher-risk healthcare settings, including inpatient wards, emergency departments and residential care facilities*. Inpatients of hospitals and residents of residential care facilities are not required to wear a mask. Nevertheless, as good practice, we encourage residents and inpatients to wear a mask if they are unwell or develop ARI symptoms. 

Besides healthcare, other authorities may also require mask-wearing, just as the Singapore Food Agency has required food handlers to wear a mask or spit guard for food safety reasons. Private enterprises may also opt to maintain mask-wearing requirements as company policy for workplace health and safety or business continuity reasons.

As mask-wearing is an effective way to minimise the risk of infectious diseases, we encourage members of the public, especially the elderly and immunocompromised, to wear masks in crowded places, or when visiting or interacting with vulnerable persons. We strongly advise individuals who are unwell with symptoms of COVID-19 or other respiratory infections to wear a mask when they need to leave their homes.

* Residential care settings include Nursing Homes (NHs), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Homes (PRHs), Psychiatric Sheltered Home (PSH), Inpatient Hospice.

Medically vulnerable persons (i.e. seniors and those with chronic medical conditions) that have ARI symptoms, as well as persons with severe, prolonged or worsening ARI symptoms, should see a doctor. The updated advisory for persons who are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 can be found at this link.  

Persons with mild ARI symptoms should stay at home until symptoms resolve.

If you test positive with an ART test, you should regard yourself as being infected with COVID-19.

Avoid close contact with others while still symptomatic. You may return to normal activities when your symptoms resolve. 

If you have a need to go out while symptomatic, please exercise social responsibility to avoid infecting others – wear a mask, minimise your social interactions and avoid crowded places, do not visit vulnerable settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, and avoid contact with vulnerable persons, such as the elderly.

If you are unable to avoid contact with vulnerable persons despite being symptomatic (e.g., due to essential work or caregiving responsibilities), do take additional necessary precautions (e.g., wearing a mask, practice good hand hygiene) when interacting with them, until you test negative.

Here's a set of infections prevention controls you should observe while recovering at home to minimise risk of transmission:

1. You should take appropriate infection prevention control measures during your recovery at home. Should you reside with a vulnerable household member, preventive measures such as wearing a mask, cleaning the toilet after every use and not sharing a room with other household members should be taken to mitigate infection spread. Alternatively, kindly consider other accommodations arrangements, if possible.

2. Practise good personal hygiene by washing your hands regularly with soap and water.

3. If you are using a shared bathroom, the surfaces that you touch should be wiped down with disinfectant or bleach solution after each use.

4. Please ensure that your family members handle your laundry and trash carefully while wearing gloves, if possible. They should wash their hands with soap after doing so and avoid touching their faces before washing their hands.

5. You may wish to monitor your oxygen saturation using an oximeter and temperature if unwell. It is not required to report your readings.

If you have any of the following symptoms, your condition is considered severe, and you will require urgent medical care.

Please note that this list is non-exhaustive, and your doctor will exercise his own clinical judgement in assessing your condition:

• Chest pain

• Shortness of breath

• Sudden weakness over one side of body, slurring of speech, drooping of the face, severe headache that does not get better with usual pain medication

• Chest palpitations

• Sudden onset of painful, red or swollen limbs

If you have the following symptoms, you should also consult your doctor for further advice:

• Persistent diarrhoea and vomiting/ unable to take fluids

• Fever for ≥3 days

With vaccination, most COVID-19 infections tend to be mild. ART testing is no longer routinely needed for healthy persons with acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms.

Medically vulnerable persons (i.e. seniors and those with chronic medical conditions) that have ARI symptoms, as well as persons with severe, prolonged or worsening ARI symptoms, should see a doctor. The updated advisory for persons who are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 can be found at this link.

Persons with mild ARI symptoms should stay at home until symptoms resolve.

If you test positive with an ART test, you should regard yourself as being infected with COVID-19.

Avoid close contact with others while still symptomatic. You may return to normal activities when your symptoms resolve.

Yes. You can recover at home with your household member who is negative with the following measures to minimise the risk of transmission:

1. You should take appropriate infection prevention control measures during your recovery at home. Should you reside with a vulnerable household member, preventive measures such as wearing a mask, cleaning the toilet after every use and not sharing a room with other household members should be taken to mitigate infection spread. Alternatively, kindly consider other accommodations arrangements, if possible.

2. Practise good personal hygiene by washing your hands regularly with soap and water.

3. If you are using a shared bathroom, the surfaces that you touch should be wiped down with disinfectant or bleach solution after each use.

4. Please ensure that your family members handle your laundry and trash carefully while wearing gloves, if possible. They should wash their hands with soap after doing so and avoid touching their faces before washing their hands.

5. You may wish to monitor your oxygen saturation using an oximeter and temperature if unwell. It is not required to report your readings.

You can view your vaccination records by logging in to the HealthHub app using your Singpass account. If you are eligible for Singpass but do not have access yet, please apply for Singpass in order to access your vaccination records in the HealthHub app. All Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents and Long Term Pass Holders aged 15 years and above are eligible for Singpass.

If you are not a Singpass user, you may  request that the vaccination provider issues a vaccination card documenting the vaccine received.

For Singpass users

You can view or download your vaccination records by logging in to the HealthHub using your Singpass account.Singapore Citizens, Permanent Residents and Long Term Pass Holders aged 15 years and above are eligible for a Singpass account. You may register for one here if you have not yet done so.

If you are not eligible for Singpass

You may request that the vaccination provider issues a vaccination card documenting the vaccine received.

Medically vulnerable persons (i.e. seniors and those with chronic medical conditions) that have ARI symptoms, as well as persons with severe, prolonged or worsening ARI symptoms, should see a doctor and be considered for testing and/or oral antiviral therapy. The updated advisory for persons who are at increased risk of severe COVID-19 can be found at this link.

Persons with mild ARI symptoms should stay at home until symptoms resolve.

If you test positive with an ART test, you should regard yourself as being infected with COVID-19.

Avoid close contact with others while still symptomatic. You may return to normal activities when your symptoms resolve.

If you have a need to go out while symptomatic, please exercise social responsibility to avoid infecting others – wear a mask, minimise your social interactions and avoid crowded places, do not visit vulnerable settings such as hospitals and nursing homes, and avoid contact with vulnerable persons, such as the elderly.

If you are unable to avoid contact with vulnerable persons despite being symptomatic (e.g., due to essential work or caregiving responsibilities), do take additional necessary precautions (e.g., wearing a mask, practice good hand hygiene) when interacting with them, until you test negative.

If you have a vaccination document (may be in a hardcopy or digital format)

You may visit any of the following locations to have your records verified and ingested:

• Selected Joint Testing and Vaccination Centres (JTVCs) on Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 6.30pm

  • JTVC Kaki Bukit

  • JTVC Bukit Merah

  • JTVC Ang Mo Kio

  • JTVC Jurong West

  • To locate these JTVCs, please click here.

• Any clinic that offers this as a service.

  • A non-exhaustive list of such clinics can be found here. Please call ahead to check if your preferred clinic offers this service and to book an appointment if needed. Please note that polyclinics do not provide this service.

  • Clinics will charge a fee for the time and manpower needed to provide this service and handle the ingestion of records.

If you have been in contact with unwell persons, monitor your health and symptoms.

If you develop symptoms of an acute respiratory infection, please follow the instructions for persons who are unwell.

Otherwise, persons should adhere to good personal hygiene practices such as washing hands with soap and water or cleaning hands by rubbing them with an alcohol-based formulation, and using covering the mouth and nose with tissues when sneezing or coughing to prevent transmission of disease.

An additional dose of an updated vaccine for 2024 is recommended to be administered around 1 year (and no earlier than 5 months) after the last dose received. The additional dose is:

• Recommended for all persons aged 60 years and above, medically vulnerable individuals and residents of aged care facilities;

• Encouraged for all individuals aged 6 months and above, in particular, healthcare workers, as well as household members and caregivers of medically vulnerable individuals.

The Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax vaccines are recommended for this. Those who are medically ineligible for mRNA vaccines may receive Novavax/Nuvaxovid* or Sinovac-CoronaVac^ as an alternative.

Note: Age eligibility for the various vaccines apply. Under the National Vaccination Programme, persons aged 6 months to 11 years are eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty and Moderna/Spikevax vaccines. Persons aged 12-17 years are eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty, Moderna/Spikevax or Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccines. Persons aged 18 years and older are eligible to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech/Comirnaty, Moderna/Spikevax, Novavax/Nuvaxovid* or Sinovac-CoronaVac^ vaccines.

*The Novavax/Nuvaxovid vaccine is currently unavailable under the National Vaccination Programme. Novavax is in the process of filing for regulatory approval for its updated COVID-19 XBB.1.5 vaccine formulation.

^Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine continues to be included under the National Vaccination Programme (NVP). However, if there is no application for Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine to be fully registered, NVP will lapse for Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine, by 30 September 2024. Nevertheless, Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine will continue to be available at private clinics which have applied to use it under the Special Access Route (SAR).

The MOH will retain the practice of mask-wearing for higher-risk healthcare settings, including inpatient wards, emergency departments and residential care facilities . These are settings where vulnerable persons, including elderly and immunocompromised, may need to access services, and where the risk of infection is compounded by large crowds and prolonged close contact with others who might be infected. Hence, to protect the vulnerable persons receiving care and the healthcare staff delivering care services at these premises, mask wearing will continue to be required  at these healthcare and community care settings.

Yes. You can recover at home with household member(s) regardless of their age or health risks with the following measures to minimise the risk of transmission:

1. You should take appropriate infection prevention control measures during your recovery at home. Should you reside with a vulnerable household member, preventive measures such as wearing a mask, cleaning the toilet after every use and not sharing a room with other household members should be taken to mitigate infection spread. Alternatively, kindly consider other accommodations arrangements, if possible.

2. Practise good personal hygiene by washing your hands regularly with soap and water.

3. If you are using a shared bathroom, the surfaces that you touch should be wiped down with disinfectant or bleach solution after each use.

4. Please ensure that your family members handle your laundry and trash carefully while wearing gloves, if possible. They should wash their hands with soap after doing so and avoid touching their faces before washing their hands.

5. You may wish to monitor your oxygen saturation using an oximeter and temperature if unwell. It is not required to report your readings.