CGH Covid-19 cluster: Almost all 14 infected staff are fully vaccinated, not in direct contact with patients, hospital says

SINGAPORE — Almost all of the 14 staff members linked to a second Covid-19 cluster at Changi General Hospital (CGH) are fully vaccinated and do not interact directly with patients, the hospital said on Saturday (Sept 4).

In a statement, CGH said that the majority of the 14 infected staff members are from outsourced service partners who work at the hospital’s basement level. All of them had adhered to safe management measures.

“None of them are critically ill, largely due to their vaccination. We will continue to support and care for them,” CGH said.

It added that the new cases are not linked to an earlier cluster at the hospital, which had a total of four cases as of Friday.

The hospital said that it is actively tracing and testing to ring-fence the infections, adding that swab testing has been largely completed for workers at the basement level.

As an added precaution, all CGH staff members— including outsourced ones — will take a one-time self-administered antigen rapid test. This is on top of the rostered routine testing required for patient-fronting workers, the hospital said.

Those identified as close contacts of the 14 cases have been placed on quarantine or leave of absence. 

“Clinical areas are not affected and the hospital remains safe for clinical appointments and ward visitation, with adherence to prevailing visitation guidelines,” it said.