Singapore says unvaccinated people should pay for treatment if they catch Covid

Those who fall ill with coronavirus in Singapore will now be forced to pay for their medical treatment after the government withdrew support on Wednesday.

Having previously covered the medical bills of nearly all people suffering from Covid-19 under measures to ease financial concerns during the pandemic, the policy has been withdrawn for unvaccinated people.

Last month their health minister Ong Ye Kung said: 'We have to send this important signal, to urge everyone to get vaccinated if you are eligible.'

Like a number of countries around the, Singapore has brought in measures they say are to convince people to get the vaccine.

Singapore is one of the first countries to withdraw medical treatment and costs of Covid-19 patients to those who are specifically not vaccinated. Elsewhere Slovakia’s parliament has approved a plan to give people aged 60 and over up to 300 euros (£260) if they are vaccinated against Covid-19.

The measure, drafted by Finance Minister Igor Matovic, should boost inoculations in the European Union country with one of the bloc’s lowest vaccination rates. It should also help the struggling healthcare system amid a record surge of new infections.

So far, only 46.5% of the nation’s 5.5 million people have been fully vaccinated.

The US has also taken some steps in the hope of increasing the vaccination rate, such as requiring companies with more than 100 employees to ensure that their workers are either vaccinated or produce a weekly negatives Covid-19 test