The latest wave of community cases has seen several students getting infected by the coronavirus. As a result, all students from primary and secondary schools, as well as junior colleges have been forced to undergo full home-based learning (HBL).
On Saturday (22 May) morning, the Ministry of Education (MOE) confirmed our nation’s first school-based Covid-19 transmission, involving an 11-year-old boy from Anglo-Chinese School (ACS) (Junior).
The student is linked to 2 other cases, forming a new cluster comprising 3 infections.
According to MOH, the 11-year-old student was quarantined on Thursday (20 May) after he was identified as a close contact of his classmate — Case 63476.
Case 63476 involves a 12-year-old student from ACS (Junior) who tested positive on 19 May.
Later on 20 May, the 11-year-old developed symptoms including a fever, cough, and runny nose. He was tested for Covid-19 soon after.
Test results returned positive the next day.
The 11-year-old is part of a new cluster comprising 3 community cases.
Besides his classmate, the cluster also includes a 46-year-old investment banker at DBS — Case 63376.
Identified as Case 63537, the 11-year-old last reported to school on 18 May.
In light of him being the first school-based transmission, MOE urged everyone to “work together to keep our schools safe”.
As community cases continue to rise, parents should keep their children at home. They should also inform the school at once if someone in the household comes down with respiratory illness, or if they suspect they have Covid-19.
Students who feel unwell should also seek medical attention immediately, reports Channel NewsAsia (CNA).
It’s only understandable for parents and students to be worried after the discovery of our nation’s first school-based transmission.
The silver lining, however, is that the student was swiftly identified as a close contact of a previous case and promptly placed on quarantine.
We hope the move to full HBL would reduce the chance of such transmissions and keep our schools Covid-free.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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