Alexandra Hospital ward bars visitors after employee providing nursing care tests positive for Covid-19

SINGAPORE - A ward in Alexandra Hospital will be barred to visitors until further notice after an employee tested positive for Covid-19.

She was among the four unlinked cases reported by the Health Ministry on Wednesday (May 19).

In a Facebook post on Thursday morning, the hospital said the 24-year-old Singaporean provided basic nursing care in the affected ward.

[embed]https://www.facebook.com/AlexandraHospitalSG/posts/928111037751194[/embed]

It added that the employee had adhered to personal protective equipment guidelines.

As contact tracing and swabbing of close contacts are ongoing, visitors will not be allowed until further notice. The hospital has also disinfected all the areas the basic care assistant had been in.

On Monday, she had returned to work after a 10-day local leave, said the hospital.

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On the same morning, she underwent staff surveillance testing and was asymptomatic then.

However, she developed a cough later in the day.

Her test result on Tuesday was initially inconclusive and she was immediately isolated.

A second test on the same day came back positive for the virus.

The basic care assistant is now being cared for in an isolation room at the hospital and is currently well, the hospital said.

"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused... We are also updating and supporting the well-being of our patients and families," it added.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction