A day before schools are due to reopen for a second week, post ‘Circuit Breaker’, the Ministry of Education (MOE) revealed on Sunday (7 Jun) that 4 students and 1 non-teaching school staff have tested positive for Covid-19.
All of them have mild symptoms and are reportedly from different schools.
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According to The Straits Times (ST), the 5 patients are from the following schools:
The cases were reportedly picked up as a result of proactive testing on students aged 12 or older and school staff with respiratory infections.
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All the new cases apparently had “low viral loads” which suggest that they were infected towards the end of the ‘Circuit Breaker’.
Since they are from different schools, the 5 are not grouped as part of a cluster.
4 of the cases apparently reported for school last week whereas the remaining student from Hwa Chong Institution was last in school in early April.
Despite undergoing health screening before entering schools, all of them “did not have a fever or visible flu-like symptoms“.
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That said, the 5 patients apparently had onset of symptoms between late-May and early-June:
29 staff, as well as 100 students, who came into contact with the confirmed cases have been issued a 14-day Leave of Absence (LOA) or home quarantine order.
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They will undergo Covid-19 swab tests twice, once before commencing quarantine and another time when the quarantine ends.
The arrangements for all schools, including those where the 5 are from, will not change.
MOE urges parents, staff and students to monitor their health and reminded that students should not attend school in the event that they or their family members are unwell.
While MOE is anticipating more of such cases to surface over time, they assured Singaporeans that “those at risk of being infected” will be swiftly isolated.
MS News wishes all patients a speedy recovery and hope they’ll be discharged soon.
We’re also heartened by MOE’s approach to protect students and school staff during this difficult period, we hope these measures will help prevent the formation of clusters.
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