Lest you didn’t know, MOH updates a list of places that infectious COVID-19 cases have been to every day. For example, this is yesterday’s list:
The goal is not for you to avoid those places, but for you to monitor your health if you’ve been to the same place at the same timing as the COVID-19 cases when they were infectious.
And now, MOH is upping their game.
From 10 Sept, You’ll Receive an SMS if You’ve Been in a High-Risk Place as Someone with COVID-19
If the only SMS you’ve received is from one ministry (i.e. Ministry of Defence), then you should pray that you won’t receive an SMS from another ministry: the Ministry of Health.
MOH will be introducing a SafeEntry Location Matching Self-Check service for individuals to check whether they have been in close proximity to COVID-19 cases, based on their own SafeEntry records.
Soon, you won’t need to check the list daily—not that you check, anyways. After all, the key problem is our memory: were you at Jurong Point at 3pm or 5pm?
You can merely open your TraceTogether app to check if you’ve been to places that infectious COVID-19 cases have been.
This Self-Check service will be available on an updated version of the TT App that is available from 10 September.
If you haven’t downloaded TraceTogether, you can also access the Self-Check service via SingPass Mobile, or at https://wereyouthere.safeentry.gov.sg (with SingPass login).
But anyways, you should download the TraceTogether app because soon, some places would require both TraceTogether and SafeEntry to enter le.
You can watch this video to know more about TraceTogether, and why you’d still need SafeEntry for the Self-Check Service to work (and please subscribe to our YouTube channel for more informative videos, please?):
And here’s the thing: SMS notification alerts will be sent to a smaller group of individuals who were at locations that are assessed to pose a higher risk of transmission, such as dining places and gyms where people do not wear masks for extended periods of time.
Those whose SafeEntry check-in and check-out timings overlap with the COVID-19 case in such locations will receive an SMS alert. The SMS notification service will begin from 10 September.
Here’s a graph to show who’ll receive an SMS:
I bet you’re doing this now:
To simplify it, you’ll receive an SMS if you’ve spent more than five minutes with an infectious COVID-19 case.
So, what do you do if you receive the SMS?
Similar to the advisory MOH gives daily loh: “As a precautionary measure, persons who had been at these locations during the specified timings should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit. They should see a doctor promptly if they develop symptoms of acute respiratory infection (such as cough, sore throat and runny nose), as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history.”
Now, please excuse me as I check if I still have the SMS app on my phone.