CGH Cluster Includes 7 Porters, 1 Of Whom Works At NUH
On Friday (25 Jun), Singapore’s 2nd hospital cluster was declared at Changi General Hospital (CGH).
It emerged when 3 porters in total were confirmed to be infected with Covid-19.
Unfortunately, the CGH cluster has now grown to 10 people, 1 of whom is a healthcare assistant.
5 of 12 community cases on 27 Jun linked to CGH
On Sunday (27 Jun), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 12 community cases in its media release.
It turns out that 5 of them are linked to the CGH cluster.
2 of these cases are porters – hired to move patients between wards and departments. They also move goods, equipment and sometimes biological samples.
One of them is Case 64489, a 62-year-old Singaporean man who’s a porter at CGH. He was placed on quarantine on 25 Jun.
He developed a cough and runny nose on that day but didn’t report them. He was also tested that day and confirmed positive on 26 Jun. He’s fully vaccinated.
Porter from NUH also linked
The other porter also linked to the CGH cluster actually works at the National University Hospital (NUH).
Case 64490, a 24-year-old Singaporean woman, is linked to the CGH cluster as she’s a family member and household contact of a previous case who’s a CGH porter.
She was placed on quarantine on 25 Jun, tested that day and confirmed positive on 26 Jun. She also developed a fever that day, and a sore throat and runny nose on 27 Jun. She’s fully vaccinated.
Healthcare assistant also infected
Besides the porters, a healthcare assistant has also been added to the cluster.
The 69-year-old Singaporean woman developed body aches on 24 Jun, but she wasn’t tested for Covid-19 when she visited a polyclinic that day.
On 25 Jun, she started having a fever and sore throat, and went to a doctor where she was referred for a Covid-19 test.
She finally got tested at CGH on 26 Jun, and it came back positive that day.
She’s been deemed as Case 64484, and has got her 1st dose of the vaccine.
2 household contacts infected
The 2 other cases linked to the cluster on Sunday (27 Jun) are family members and household contacts of previous cases.
They are:
- Case 64486: 58-year-old Singaporean woman who’s a homemaker was placed on quarantine on 25 Jun. She was tested that day and developed a fever and cough on the same day. She was confirmed to be positive on 26 Jun. She’s got 1 dose of the vaccine.
- Case 64487: 16-year-old Singaporean girl who’s a student at Republic Polytechnic was placed on quarantine on 25 Jun. She was tested on 25 Jun, and was confirmed positive on 26 Jun. She’s asymptomatic, and was last in school on 1 Jun. She’s also got 1 dose of the vaccine.
Previous CGH cases
It all started when a 35-year-old Singaporean man, a porter, 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 deemed as Case 64413.
Preliminary tests also found that he’d been infected by the Delta variant, and is in the early stages of infection.
Subsequently, 2 other porters were found to be infected:
- Case 64442: a 67-year-old Singaporean man
- Case 64443: a 72-year-old Singaporean man
On Saturday (26 Jun), 2 more porters were linked:
- Case 64476: a 48-year-old Singaporean woman, who’s a family contact of the 16-year-old poly student
- Case 64462: a 66-year-old Singaporean man, who’s a family contact of the NUH porter and the 58-year-old Singaporean woman who’s a homemaker
Thus, out of the 10 cases so far:
- 6 are CGH porters
- 1 is an NUH porter who’s a household contact
- 2 are other household contacts
- 1 is a healthcare assistant
CGH nurse also infected
In an update on Saturday (26 Jun), MOH also listed a CGH nurse as being infected.
Photo for illustration purposes only.
Source
Confusingly, she wasn’t linked to the CGH cluster — she was classified as an unlinked case instead.
She’s a 21-year-old Singaporean woman who was routinely tested on 23 Jun.
She developed a fever and runny nose on 24 Jun, and was confirmed positive on 25 Jun.
Deemed as Case 64464, she’s also fully vaccinated.
All infected staff are generally well: CGH
In a Facebook post on Sunday (27 Jun) night, CGH said all the infected staff had followed precautionary measures strictly.
This included wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work.
They’re all generally well, with mild symptoms.
Earlier on Sunday (27 Jun), the hospital said that as a precautionary measure, patients identified as Covid-19 contacts won’t be allowed to receive visitors in the wards.
Changi General Hospital Patients Identified As Covid-19 Contacts Not Allowed To Have Visitors
These patients may also be placed in isolation to continue their recuperation.
Growth of cluster is worrying
The growth of the CGH cluster is worrying, especially since we know from the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster that it could lead to fatalities.
So far, no patients have been infected, which is good news indeed.
Hopefully the infections can be swiftly ringfenced to prevent them from spreading.
In the meantime, MS News wishes all those infected a smooth recovery.
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Featured image by Google Maps.
