All children, staff members at Superland Preschool in Chinatown to be swabbed after Covid-19 cluster detected

SINGAPORE — All employees and children at Superland Preschool in Chinatown will be swabbed for Covid-19 as a precautionary measure after five children and a staff member tested positive.

The preschool at Kreta Ayer Community Centre was one of the three new Covid-19 clusters reported on Wednesday (Aug 11) by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

In reply to CNA's queries, the preschool said on Thursday that all the confirmed cases were last present at the preschool on Aug 6.

They had cleared "health checks" and temperature screening upon their arrival at the preschool that day, it said.

"We were aware of the first case of a child who was confirmed positive on Aug 9,” added the pre-school.

"The child developed symptoms at home on Sunday, Aug 8, and visited the doctor on the same day."

The remaining cases were detected through testing. The staff member who was infected was fully vaccinated, said the preschool.

Employees and children assessed to have been in close contact with the Covid-19 cases have been issued quarantine orders.

Other children and staff members recently at the centre and not on quarantine orders were given a leave of absence from Aug 11 to Aug 20.

Cleaning and disinfection work was carried out at the preschool on Tuesday and Wednesday. It will resume operations on Aug 21.

To ease any “potential burden” on parents while the children are at home, the preschool has provided home-based learning kits to continue their education, Superland Preschool said.

“The centre has been in close cooperation with the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), MOH and parents on that matter.

“The health and safety of our children and staff are our higher priority. We are keeping in close contact with the parents of the affected children and also our staff to check on their wellbeing. We are also monitoring the health of the rest of our children and staff,” it added.

CNA has contacted ECDA for more information. CNA

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