SINGAPORE - Changi General Hospital (CGH) and Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) have stepped up their defences and put out messages to assure the public after one staff member at each hospital tested positive for the coronavirus on Monday (May 10).
Both cases were announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday night.
The first staff member, case 63073, is a 42-year-old Malaysian man who works as an operating theatre technician at NTFGH.
He returned to Singapore on Jan 10 after a trip to Malaysia, and served his stay-home notice until Jan 24.
He tested negative on Jan 23 but later developed a cough on April 21. However, he did not seek medical treatment until almost three weeks later on May 10, after his cough worsened.
He was tested at NTFGH's staff clinic and his result came back positive the same day.
In a statement on its Facebook page on Wednesday, JurongHealth Campus, which NTFGH is a part of, said the man is now warded in an isolation room in NTFGH.
The campus added that he was last at work on May 10 and is likely shedding minute fragments of the virus from a past infection, which is no longer transmissible nor infective to others.
In addition, he had no contact with any known clusters or staff from Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which is currently Singapore's biggest active Covid-19 cluster.
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However, JurongHealth Campus added that as a precaution, his household contacts have been swabbed for the virus.
All areas where the man had been in have also been disinfected.
"We will continue to provide full support to our colleague and continue to enforce strict precautionary measures and infection control protocols to keep our patients, visitors and staff safe," said the statement.
The second staff member, case 63061, is a 43-year-old Chinese woman who is employed by EM Services and worked as a housekeeper at CGH.
She lives in the same household as case 62971, who is part of the Changi Airport cluster.
As she had been identified as a close contact of case 62971, she was quarantined on May 8. She developed a cough the next day, and reported her symptoms to MOH.
She was tested for Covid-19 and her result came back positive on May 10. Preliminary findings show that she was infected with the B1617 variant of the virus.
CGH said on its Facebook page on Wednesday that the woman did not have direct interaction with patients, and had adhered to appropriate precautionary measures such as wearing personal protective equipment while performing housekeeping duties.
She had also received both doses of the vaccine.
Contact tracing and ongoing surveillance swab tests are in progress and any affected areas have been thoroughly cleaned, said the hospital.
CGH added: "We remain on heightened vigilance to keep our patients, their family members and our staff safe. We will continue to provide our care and support to our patients and colleagues."
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction
