SINGAPORE — All visits to residential care homes will be suspended from Monday (Sept 13) to Oct 11, following an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases recently among staff, clients and residents of aged care facilities.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the suspension is to protect seniors residing at residential care homes who are typically frail and more vulnerable to complications of Covid-19.

In the last two weeks, there were 42 cases across 18 aged care facilities and providers, MOH said, with the number of cases expected to continue to rise in the coming weeks.

"This temporary suspension of visitation will give us time to encourage more unvaccinated seniors to get vaccinated, and roll out the vaccine booster programme for residents of aged care facilities, details of which were announced by MOH on Sept 10," the ministry said.

"We will also be strengthening the testing regime for staff, residents and clients of aged care facilities, and will use Antigen Rapid Tests more frequently, to complement the current surveillance testing in these settings."

The ministry urged the next-of-kin of unvaccinated seniors in the aged care facilities to support and encourage their loved ones to be vaccinated.

"Unvaccinated seniors may suffer severe illness if infected," MOH said. "It is also important for vaccinated seniors to receive the booster vaccination when it is made available, to ensure a continued high level of immunity and protection from severe disease."

The ministry said it will observe the situation in the coming weeks and will review the suspension of visitation accordingly.