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SINGAPORE: As Singapore moves gradually towards the full mitigation phase, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has made more changes to its H1N1 tracking measures.
General practitioners will continue to refer those in high-risk groups - pregnant women and those with health complications - for H1N1 testing.
But contact tracing will be stepped down and Home Quarantine Orders (HQOs) will generally not be issued, except to patients deemed to be a risk to the community.
This could include patients who are in close contact with people in high-risk groups. The MOH said HQOs can be "initiated under special situations, based on risk assessment by public health specialists".
It said these changes are part of its shift towards the full mitigation phase under which it plans to focus on high-risk patients.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said countries no longer need to submit reports on laboratory confirmed cases. The WHO will also not be reporting the number of confirmed cases in each country.
In response, MOH said it will be removing its list of affected countries from its website. It will also stop issuing daily updates on the number of new cases. Instead, it will only report the number of confirmed cases in hospitals.
As of Tuesday, 85 were still warded at six public hospitals and the Communicable Disease Centre.
The ministry said it will continue its influenza biosurveillance and report its findings regularly.
Routine laboratory tests on random virus samples are taken from patients in the clinics and hospitals to determine the circulating influenza strains. Latest data showed that 13 per cent of patients with flu-like symptoms are due to the H1N1 flu.
Doctors said patients have been adjusting well to the gradual changes.
Dr Lee Yik Voon, executive director of Singapore Medical Association, said: "They have been compliant with the treatment that we've prescribed. And up till now, we have not received any reports of unreasonable requests for Tamiflu."
To allay public concerns over H1N1 risks while on the move, the Land Transport Authority, public transport operators and taxi companies have put in place precautionary measures.
These include improving the ventilation of trains, buses and taxis, stepped-up cleaning and daily temperature screening of staff.
- CNA/ir
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