Village Hotel Sentosa becomes sixth community Covid care facility
Village Hotel Sentosa is the latest addition to the Ministry of Health's (MOH) list of community care facilities designated for those who have contracted Covid-19 but are experiencing mild or no symptoms.
This brings the total number of such designated facilities to six, with the other five being D'Resort NTUC, Tuas South, former Ang Mo Kio Institute of Technical Education, Civil Service Club @ Loyang (CSC@ Loyang) and Bright Vision Hospital.
The 606-room Village Hotel Sentosa, which is under Far East Hospitality, officially opened on April 1, 2019.
With the new addition, the six community care facilities that MOH is now operating can accommodate more than 5,000 individuals, said a spokesman.
In Parliament on Monday, Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said that fully vaccinated individuals aged 45 to 59 who are infected with Covid-19 and show no or mild symptoms can be directly admitted to community care facilities instead of going to hospitals first.
This was already the practice for those aged 17 to 45.
As Singapore prepares to live with endemic Covid-19, this move will help lessen the load on hospitals, which can better focus on helping sicker patients, said Mr Ong.
It would allow up to 60 per cent of infected persons to recover in community care facilities and, in the future, possibly up to 80 per cent will be able to do so, with some even recovering at home.
Mr Ong also said that fully vaccinated people with Covid-19 can be discharged after 14 days - instead of 21 days - with leave of absence of seven days.
More people are also getting their Covid-19 jabs, which protect them against becoming critically ill if they do get infected.
As at Wednesday, there were 1,322 people in community facilities. - THE STRAITS TIMES
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