MOH Offering COVID-19 Testing to People Like Taxi / PHV Drivers, Food Delivery Riders, Hawkers & More

A few months back, testing used to be reserved for a select group of people, but with the progress of our testing capacity, we might all have been tested at least once before we bid goodbye to 2020.

Currently, anyone above the age of 12 (yes, not 13) would be tested for COVID-19 if he or she goes to the doctor and is diagnosed with acute respiratory infections (ARI).

Other than that, the authorities are testing many other groups, like preschool teachers and staff and residents of residential homes serving the elderly. All construction workers living in dorms would also have to be tested every two weeks, and all public bus drivers have been tested due to the Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub cluster.

Pilots and cabin crew returning from overseas will be tested too, and of course we know by now that essential workers would also be tested regularly.

Soon, more would be tested.

A lot more.

MOH Offering COVID-19 Testing to People Like Taxi / PHV Drivers, Food Delivery Riders, Hawkers & More

Today (29 August 2020), MOH said that they “will be testing more extensively in the community. MOH, together with other government agencies, will be progressively reaching out to identified community groups to offer COVID-19 testing on a one-time basis. These testing operations aim to provide a better picture of population prevalence.”

In other words, it’s also to see how many people are indeed infected, because some of us might be infected but aren’t infectious.

You can watch our video on the two types of COVID-19 tests here (please also subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos):

For a start, MOH has plans to provide testing to community groups such as taxi and Private Hire Car (PHC) drivers, food delivery personnel, key vendors servicing foreign worker dormitories, as well as stallholders at hawker centres, markets and similar F&B establishments such as coffeeshops.

While there has been no local evidence that these community groups are of higher risks of getting infected, MOH will be offering tests to them given the nature of their working environment, such as the high frequency of interactions with members of public.

These groups of people are encouraged to come forward to utilise the tests offered, and the costs of the tests will be fully borne by the Government. It’s not mentioned if this is compulsory or not.

MOH has said that as we “gradually reopen our economy and resume social activities, we will be testing more extensively in the community.”

MOH has planned to increase its testing capacity to 40,000 tests per day.