No new Covid-19 cases among staff at Changi General Hospital; affected employees 'generally well or with mild symptoms'

SINGAPORE — Changi General Hospital (CGH) said on Monday (June 28) that no new Covid-19 cases had been detected among its staff members.

In a media release, CGH said that to date, a total of eight of its employees had tested positive for Covid-19, seven of whom belong to the same cluster. An eighth case, a 21-year-old nurse, has no known source of infection yet.

These employees are "currently generally well or with mild symptoms", Professor Ng Wai Hoe, the hospital's chief executive officer, said.

PROACTIVE TESTING 

The first case under the CGH cluster was reported on June 24: A 35-year-old man who works as a porter at the hospital.

He was found to have Covid-19 on June 23 after he was tested as part of CGH's rostered routine testing. The porter was asymptomatic and was fully vaccinated, having received his second dose of the vaccine on Feb 4.

Proactive swab testing efforts of his close contacts were immediately carried out by the hospital, which allowed it to detect infections in six porters and a healthcare assistant.

"Proactive testing has not picked up any further staff cases to date," it said.

The hospital added that contact tracing and surveillance swab tests were in progress. Staff members identified as close contacts had been placed on quarantine orders or on leave of absence pending further investigations.

CGH said that it was also working closely with the Ministry of Health and that epidemiological investigations were ongoing for the positive cases.

"The hospital has strengthened its defences to ring-fence the infections and measures are in place to keep our patients, visitors and staff safe.

"Infection control protocols have been activated and terminal cleaning has been carried out at affected areas," CGH said.

ALL WORKERS ON CAMPUS TO BE TESTED 

The hospital also said that all staff members on its campus would undergo Covid-19 testing over the next few days.

More swab tests will be done for workers identified as contacts, as well as various groups including porters, housekeepers and nurses.

Patient-fronting employees who were already on rostered routine testing also underwent an extra round of surveillance swab tests.

"More than 6,000 swab tests for staff have been conducted over the past week. The swab test results are negative to date," CGH said.

Extra surveillance swab tests for inpatients who were possible contacts of infected staff members were also completed, with all results coming back negative.

"We are on heightened clinical surveillance of all inpatients who may develop fever or acute respiratory infection symptoms," CGH said.

Patients identified as contacts may be placed in isolation to continue their recuperation under quarantine. For the safety of visitors, they will not be allowed in these wards until further notice.

CGH's visitation guidelines remain at one pre-registered visitor for the duration of a patient's admission and one visitor each day. Patients may also continue with their outpatient appointments at the hospital.

"The hospital is safe for clinical appointments and visitation, with adherence to existing visitation guidelines," the hospital said, adding that it would continue to monitor the situation and to review and reinforce measures as the need arose. CNA

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