3 CGH Porters Infected With Covid-19, All Are Singaporean Men
On Friday (25 Jun), Singapore reported 15 new community cases, with 12 of them unlinked to earlier cases.
It’s now been revealed that among these cases are 2 linked to a Changi General Hospital (CGH) porter reported on Thursday (24 Jun).
As that makes 3 people, CGH has been officially declared as Singapore’s 2nd hospital cluster.
All 3 cases are porters at the hospital.
1st case was 35-year-old Singaporean man
In a press release on Friday (25 Jun) night, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported that the new CGH cluster now has 3 cases.
The 1st case was a 35-year-old Singaporean man who was reported in MOH’s release on Thursday (24 Jun).
He was classified as an unlinked case, and was detected via routine testing as he was asymptomatic.
His test came back positive on Wednesday (23 Jun), and he was classified as Case 64413.
Worse still, preliminary tests found that he’s been infected by the Delta variant, and is in the early stages of infection.
1st case wore PPE at work, was fully vaccinated
The 35-year-old was working as a porter in CGH.
A porter is somebody hired to move patients between wards and departments. They also move goods, equipment and sometimes biological samples.
According to a Facebook post by CGH on Thursday (24 Jun), he wore Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work, and was also fully vaccinated.
The hospital has also carried out terminal cleaning at affected areas.
2 more cases reported
However, despite these measures, 2 more CGH porters have been infected.
Both of them are workplace contacts of Case 64413, and both are in the early stages of infection.
They were reported by MOH on Friday (25 Jun).
The 1st one is a 67-year-old male Singaporean who was also detected via routine testing as he was asymptomatic.
His test came back positive on Thursday (24 Jun), and he was classified as Case 64442. He got his 1st dose of the vaccine on 11 Jun.
The 2nd case today is a 72-year-old Singaporean man who also detected via routine testing. However, he had developed a runny nose on 16 Jun but didn’t seek medical treatment.
His test came back positive on Thursday (24 Jun), and he was classified as Case 64443. He was fully vaccinated.
Another cluster in Bukit Merah block
Besides CGH, another cluster was declared on Friday (25 Jun), and it’s located in the current hotspot of Bukit Merah.
Specifically, it’s at Block 105 Henderson Crescent.
There are a total of 10 cases linked to this block.
1st case is 67-year-old Singaporean man
The 1st case was detected 1 week ago, when a 67-year-old Singaporean man suffered a fever and runny nose on 17 Jun.
He went to a general practitioner (GP) clinic that day, and was given 2 Covid-19 tests.
Both came back positive on the same day, as he was deemed as Case 64310.
He’s fully vaccinated, and was listed among the 4 unlinked community cases on 18 Jun.
6 cases on 25 Jun detected from block testing
Since then, 9 more infected people have been linked to the block.
6 of these cases were reported by MOH on Friday (25 Jun).
All of them were detected following community surveillance testing for residents of the block.
They are:
- Case 64446: 70-year-old Singaporean woman, retiree
- Case 64447: 40-year-old Singaporean woman, ST Engineering finance executive
- Case 64448: 45-year-old male Filipino national, Air Liquide maintenance specialist
- Case 64455: 32-year-old male Singapore PR, part-time Grab and Foodpanda delivery rider
- Case 64456: 32-year-old female Singapore PR, Green Mart SG operation manager
- Case 64457: 45-year-old Singaporean man, Meinhardt Group manager
15 nearby blocks also tested
Incidentally, 8 blocks in the nearby Bukit Merah View and 7 blocks in Redhill Lane & Close were tested in the past week.
It’s probably no coincidence that Block 105 Henderson Crescent is less than 10 minutes’ walk from these blocks.
If you live near or in these estates, do monitor your health and see a doctor if unwell.
No medical staff or patient infected yet
It’s worrying that Singapore has reported a 2nd hospital cluster just 19 days after the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster was closed.
We all know how badly affected TTSH was, as a few patients from that cluster sadly passed away.
Thankfully, no medical staff or patients have been found to be infected yet, so let’s hope the CGH cluster won’t be as bad.
MS News wishes those infected a speedy recovery.
Have news you must share? Get in touch with us via email at news@mustsharenews.com.
Featured image by Google Maps.
