13 active Covid-19 clusters in Singapore, including 1 new one from an enrichment centre at Marine Parade
The tuition teacher at Learning Point in Parkway was confirmed to have the infection on May 12, 2021.
PHOTO: The Straits Times
PUBLISHED ONMay 15, 2021 1:30 AMByNg Wei Kai
SINGAPORE - Five primary school pupils have tested positive for the virus after attending classes run by an infected tuition teacher at Learning Point - an enrichment centre located in Parkway Centre.
They are two boys, aged seven and nine, from St Stephen's school; a nine-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy from Kong Hwa School; and a nine-year-old boy from St Andrew's Junior School.
Their teacher is a 50-year-old woman who was confirmed to have the infection on Wednesday (May 12).
The five children were among the 24 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the community reported by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday.
They make up a new cluster - one of two reported Friday.
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The other new cluster surfaced after a fully vaccinated employee at Unity Pharmacy tested positive.
His infection has been linked to that of an operating theatre nurse at Sengkang General Hospital.
This cluster currently has three patients, the last of whom is a seven-year-old pupil at Yio Chu Kang Primary School.
Singapore now has 13 active clusters.
Thirteen of the other community cases have been linked to the Changi Airport cluster, taking the total number of patients in it to 59.
Of these, six are airport staff employed at Terminals 1 and 3.
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They are a 27-year-old who works in a retail store at Terminal 3, a 29-year-old who works as an IT support engineer in Terminal 1, two Certis Cisco employees aged 28 and 67, and two Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers aged 51 and 57.
The other seven are contacts of patients in the cluster.
They comprise two cleaners at Kopitiam Square Sengkang, another cleaner at Robinson 77 in the Central Business District, the principal of a language school, a retail staff at Ngee Ann City, an administrative worker in the Ministry of Manpower and a 91-year-old housewife.
The last patient in the community is an 88-year-old man who had been undergoing treatment at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Ward 9D.
His infection brings the number in that cluster up to 45.
He had been in Ward 9D since April 19 and transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on April 29.
He has been tested for the virus daily since May 2 and tested negative until May 12.
Among the community patients, 16 had already been placed on quarantine, said MOH.
Four are currently unlinked.
They are a 39-year-old Sats Food worker employed as a chef at Changi Prison, a 22-year-old cook at Wok Hey in White Sands, a 70-year-old retired woman and a 48-year-old GrabFood delivery worker.
The 52 cases take Singapore's total tally to 61,505.
The other 28 cases were imported ones who had been placed on stay-home notices on arrival in Singapore, said MOH. Of these, 19 are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.
MOH added that the number of new cases in the community increased from 43 cases two weeks ago to 91 in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community in a week also increased, from nine cases to 16 over the same period.
With 18 patients discharged yesterday, 61,032 patients have fully recovered from the disease.
A total of 180 patients remain in hospital, including three in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 247 are recuperating in community facilities.
Singapore has had 31 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.