SINGAPORE — A website has been launched to help individuals with symptoms that might be related to Covid-19 decide whether they should see a doctor or not.

On the Covid-19 Symptom Checker at https://sgcovidcheck.com, individuals will be prompted to answer a short list of questions including their age, if they have any chronic diseases, if they have travelled outside Singapore in the past 14 days or have been in touch with a suspected or confirmed Covid-19 case.

They will also be asked to choose which symptoms they are experiencing from a predetermined list, including symptoms such as cough, difficulty in breathing and the loss of taste or smell.

The site will then recommend what the person should do next. This includes whether they should see a doctor or continue to monitor their symptoms.

Teams from the National University Health System (NUHS), the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and the Office of Healthcare Transformation from the Ministry of Health (MOH) were involved in developing the site.

A joint press release issued on Friday (April 3) said that the impetus for developing the self-checker stemmed from MOH statistics that showed that 24 per cent of Covid-19-positive patients in Singapore had been doctor-hopping, and the authorities recognised that patients often wonder when to see a doctor, and if so, where to go.

For example, the public may not know that there are 943 Public Health Preparedness Clinics (PHPCs) in Singapore which are especially well-equipped to address Covid-19 concerns.

The new website does not collect personally identifiable data and while the tool does not dispense medical advice, it helps with navigating the healthcare system, the press release stated.

Associate Professor James Yip, group chief medical informatics officer at NUHS, said:

“More effective patient-direction can help reduce the burden on an already heavily taxed healthcare system. The symptom checker is a way to optimise the healthcare system’s resources, while getting the best outcome for the patient.”