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Staff, residents near Ren Ci nursing home nurse linked to Changi Airport cluster test negative for Covid-19

aseanpr 18 5 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - All staff and residents at a Ren Ci nursing home who were near a Covid-19 patient have tested negative so far. They were swabbed after a 39-year-old nurse at Ren Ci @ Ang Mo Kio was confirmed to have the virus and was linked to the Changi Airport cluster on Sunday (May 16). He is a household contact of a sales representative who had visited Changi Airport Terminal 3 on May 4. The nursing home will carry out further testing where necessary, said Ren Ci in response to queries from The Straits Times. It added that the nurse was last at work on May 15. "After his shift ended, he visited a general practitioner as he started to feel unwell," the organisation said. He was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Sunday after being swabbed and is currently warded at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital. Upon notification of the man's positive test result, the nursing home said it took immediate action to stop possible spread and started contact tracing. Through split zone segregation, it identified staff and residents in the zone where the Covid-19 patient had been in, and worked with the Health Ministry, as well as the Agency for Integrated Care, to test them. All visitations to the affected zone have b...

Thinner crowds at parks, markets as people stick to groups of 2 on first day of tighter Covid-19 rules

aseanpr 16 5 月

6 minutes

SINGAPORE - Fewer people were out and about at parks, hawker centres and markets on Sunday morning (May 16), the first day of the new tightened Covid-19 restrictions. Until June 13, people are allowed out only in groups of two, and dining in is prohibited. When The Straits Times visited popular parks and nature reserves like East Coast Park, Singapore Botanic Gardens and Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, regular park-goers said that the Sunday morning crowd had thinned out and people were generally abiding by the rules. At Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, safe distancing ambassadors and National Parks Board (NParks) staff were spotted monitoring the crowd. Most hikers were seen keeping to the two-to-a-group rule and wearing masks as they hiked. The rock at the summit, a popular spot for pictures, was covered up with a "Work In Progress" sign. Hikers told ST that there were noticeably fewer people around on Sunday. Housewife Ms Wong, 56, who went hiking on Saturday and Sunday morning, said: "The crowd in the morning yesterday was so big, it seemed like a carnival. Everyone was trying to hike in big groups of friends or family before the new restrictions. "But today, it is so much less packed. ...

Taxis, private-hire cars can take more than two passengers only if from same household, starting May 16

aseanpr 16 5 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Commercial car-pooling services will cease, and taxis and private-hire cars can take more than two passengers only if they are all from the same household. These are some of the measures that have been implemented for this period of heightened alert from Sunday (May 16) to June 13, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA). In a statement, the agency said these measures are "to minimise the interaction and the risk of Covid-19 transmission across different households when commuting". The updated Covid-19 restrictions on group sizes that will apply to taxis and private-hire cars mean that passengers from different households have to keep to the two-passenger limit. However, more than two passengers can travel together in a taxi or private-hire car if they all live in the same household. For instance, a parent can travel with his or her two children if they live together. Reminding drivers and passengers to wear their masks at all times, the LTA said: "Taxi and private-hire drivers should decline to fetch passengers who do not wear masks." During the heightened alert period, the agency will also disallow all forms of commercial car-pooling services such as GrabHitch and Ryd...

Arts and sports sectors in S’pore to receive additional support in light of tightened measures

aseanpr 15 5 月

5 minutes

SINGAPORE - The arts and sports sectors in Singapore will receive more support amid tighter curbs to stem the rise in Covid-19 infections. In a release on Saturday (May 15), the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) said that for the arts sector, it will be subsidising costs of pre-event testing (PET) for arts and culture companies presenting permitted live performances from May 16 to June 13. More details on how those affected may apply for the support will be released by the National Arts Council (NAC). The arts sector will also be able to tap the Arts and Culture Resilience Package, which has been topped up over the past year to $75 million. The package funds operating grants, venue hire subsidies, assistance to self-employed persons and assistance to support the transformation of businesses. For the sports sector, recently announced relief measures by Sport Singapore that were initially for up to May 30 will now be extended to June 13. These measures include project grants, operating grants, training assistance grants, and direct cash assistance for those affected. SportSG is also looking into the provision of more outdoor spaces within its ActiveSG facilities for coa...

5,000 inmates, staff, vendors and volunteers to be tested for Covid-19 at Changi Prison

aseanpr 15 5 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Prison Service (SPS) will be testing about 5,000 inmates, staff, vendors and volunteers over the next few days after a chef working in the prison kitchen at Changi Prison Complex tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday (May 13). In a statement released on Saturday, SPS said inmate activities, including rehabilitation programmes, will be suspended to facilitate the testing. It also said that vendors and volunteers who are affected by the temporary suspension of activities will be notified. SPS said it would cease face-to-face and tele-visits and replace all inmates' visits with phone calls from May 17 until further notice. The decision comes on the heels of the Ministry of Health's (MOH) announcement on Friday on the tightening of measures in the community to reduce the risk of Covid-19 transmission. Families who have already booked their visits will have them automatically converted to phone calls. In addition to phone calls, inmates are still able to communicate with their families through e-letters. "These are important, preventive steps taken by SPS, for the safety of our inmates and their families, staff and partners, and they complement existing meas...

Most students with Covid-19 linked to private tutor, no evidence of school-based transmission

aseanpr 14 5 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - There is no evidence of school-based Covid-19 transmission so far, even as a few new infections among students will be reported, said Education Minister Lawrence Wong. The infections reported so far all took place outside of school but even so, safe management measures in schools have been tightened, said Mr Wong, who is the co-chair of a Covid-19 multi-ministry task force. "But we will continue to monitor this very closely and see if additional measures are necessary," he said at a press briefing on Friday (May 14). Principals and teachers have been reminded to be alert and vigilant, to make sure that students who are in schools can continue learning safely, he added. Most students who were reported to have tested positive recently are linked to a tutor in a private tuition school, said the Ministry of Health's (MOH) director of medical services Kenneth Mak. Associate Professor Mak said MOH will report later on Friday that a few students in schools have tested positive. He said at the press conference: "At this point in time, epidemiological investigations are still ongoing, but most of these students are in fact linked to one of our cases reported yesterday, case 63,1...

9 Covid-19 cases in past 6 days did not see doctor when sick; experts say next few weeks crucial for S’pore

aseanpr 13 5 月

5 minutes

SINGAPORE - Experts have warned that the Covid-19 crisis in Singapore could worsen quickly amid a growing number of unlinked cases and expanding clusters, but some here are still not seeing a doctor after developing symptoms. The Covid-19 situation here is on a knife's edge, Education Minister Lawrence Wong said when he addressed Parliament on Tuesday (May 11). The experts agree. Speaking during his ministerial address on the pandemic, Mr Wong, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force tackling the pandemic, said that the nation has a chance of getting things under control by the end of the month. But he also warned against complacency, saying that the country's community case numbers can go either way over the next few weeks, and it will only take one lapse or one irresponsible action for a potential super-spreading event to occur. As of Wednesday, there were 12 active clusters here, with 12 unlinked cases in the community over the past week. Professor Dale Fisher, from the Department of Medicine at the National University of Singapore's Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, said he "couldn't agree more" with Mr Wong's statement. The choice is between either controlling the increasin...

30 S’pore residents who experienced serious Covid-19 vaccine side effects to get financial assistance

aseanpr 11 5 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - There have been 104 applications for financial assistance for those suffering from serious side effects related to Covid-19 vaccines, as at May 3. Of these, 30 qualified for compensation. Health Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament on Tuesday (May 11) that the 30 cases included 21 of hypersensitivity or allergic reactions, four neurology-related cases, three cardiology-related cases, and one case related to haematology (blood disorders) and dermatology each. Another 45 applications were rejected and the remaining 29 applications are still pending. In a ministerial statement on the Covid-19 situation, Mr Gan addressed various questions from MPs on the vaccines. Ms Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) of the Workers' Party (WP) had asked for the Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme figures. Mr Dennis Tan (Hougang), also a WP MP, had asked whether there are current studies by the health authorities to ensure that the currently approved Covid-19 vaccines do not come with the risk of rare blood clots seen in other vaccines in use elsewhere. As at May 9, about 1.8 million individuals had received at least one dose of the vaccine, Mr Gan said. Of this number, about 1.2 million ...

Over 25,000 tested as part of efforts to detect cases linked to TTSH Covid-19 cluster: Gan Kim Yong

aseanpr 11 5 月

5 minutes

SINGAPORE - As at Monday (May 10), close to 12,500 people have been tested as part of special testing operations carried out to detect any cases linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hopsital (TTSH) cluster. Additionally, 12,000 TTSH staff and 1,000 patients, as well as close to 2,500 individuals who have been quarantined, have also been tested, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said in Parliament on Tuesday. Giving an update on the cluster, Mr Gan stressed that though the first detected case of the cluster was a staff nurse who developed symptoms on April 28 and dutifully reported them, this does not mean that she was the first confirmed case and had brought Covid-19 into the wards. "Her responsible act enabled us to pick up the cluster at TTSH," said Mr Gan, adding that investigations are still ongoing. Of the 43 cases in the TTSH cluster, seven staff and two patients had received full doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, said Mr Gan, who is co-chair of the multi-ministry task force tackling Covid-19. "They were all either asymptomatic, or only exhibited mild symptoms, and none of them required oxygen support," he noted. Of the remaining 34 who were not fully vaccinated, six required oxygen, two are ...

Dow, S&P 500 end at records following weak April jobs data

elean 8 5 月

3 minutes

NEW YORK (AFP) - Major Wall Street indices finished at fresh records on Friday (May 7) after disappointing US jobs data fuelled confidence of continued fiscal and monetary support as the economy recovers from Covid-19. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.7 per cent at 34,777.76, its third straight record. The broad-based S&P 500 also finished at an all-time high, up 0.7 per cent at 4,232.60, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.9 per cent to 13,752.24. Economists had projected the economy would add a million positions as vaccines and government stimulus measures allow business to return to normal in the world's largest economy. But the US economy added only 266,000 jobs, and the March increase was revised lower, while the unemployment rate increased slightly to 6.1 per cent, the Labour Department reported. The weak report is a setback for President Joe Biden's efforts to pump up the recovery, but analysts said it could still provide momentum to his efforts to pass enact trillions of dollars in additional federal funding for infrastructure and social programmes. Also, the weak April jobs data will quiet talk of a sudden shift in Federal Reserve monetary policy...

askST: How do CT values and serology tests tell if a person is still infectious?

aseanpr 7 5 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Looking at serology tests and CT values are ways to determine if a person is still infectious or has recovered from a past infection. Clara Chong sheds light on what these mean. Q: What is a serology test? A: A serology test involves a blood sample, to detect the presence of antibodies. It can show if the person might have been previously infected. Patients have antibodies around two weeks after they recover from the infection and will not have them at the point of infection. Serology tests are done by the Health Ministry to understand if a patient has the virus antibodies, which could imply an earlier infection. Q: What is CT value and how does it relate to viral load? A: Otherwise known as cycle threshold, CT value is a number that comes up during a real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (real-time RT-PCR) test, used widely here and touted as the gold standard for Covid-19 testing. The test looks for genetic sequences specific to Sars-CoV-2, the virus causing Covid-19. During a PCR reaction, genetic material from the virus is amplified, and multiple copies are created. Amplification takes place through a series of cycles - a single copy becomes two,...

A total of 26 public places cleaned after visits by TTSH Covid-19 cluster patients

aseanpr 4 5 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - A total of 26 public places visited by Covid-19 patients linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster have undergone deep cleaning and disinfection. Officers from the National Environment Agency (NEA) were deployed to monitor the cleaning and disinfection works to ensure that they were done according to NEA guidelines, the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment said in a statement on Tuesday (May 4). The statement also said that four food and beverage outlets have been ordered to close following stepped-up enforcement checks by the authorities over the weekend. These are Club Peaches, Alive @ SG Pub, Tangmen Restaurant and Club Empire. All the establishments except Club Empire are repeat offenders, and all four are located in Orchard Road. This is the second time that the three repeat offenders have had to close. All had breached Covid-19 rules such as allowing customers to intermingle and serving alcohol after 10.30pm. Eleven individuals were fined over the weekend for breaching measures at F&B outlets. Nine of them committed their offences at Club Peaches. The remaining two were fined $300 each for not wearing a mask at Tekka Centre despite multiple war...

TTSH stops admitting new patients in wake of growing Covid-19 cluster

aseanpr 4 5 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) has stopped admitting new patients from Tuesday (May 4). The hospital is fighting to contain a growing Covid-19 cluster with 35 linked patients as of Monday night. On Monday, the Ministry of Health said that other hospitals - both public and private - would be helping to take on the load as patients are diverted from TTSH. MOH has also asked all hospitals to defer non-urgent surgical operations and admissions, as well as non-urgent specialist outpatient clinic appointments, until further notice. TTSH said in a Facebook post on Tuesday morning that those requiring urgent care should visit a GP or the nearest care facility. "We seek your kind understanding that this will allow us to focus on containing this Covid-19 hospital cluster, conserve our manpower and continue supporting the pandemic response at our National Centre for Infectious Diseases during this period," it said. The hospital added that it would continue to review its measures with the Ministry and take all necessary actions for the safety of its patients and staff. The TTSH cluster formed last week after a nurse at the hospital's ward 9D was confirmed to have Covid-19 on April 2...

No point in Covid-19 rules if hospital visitors allowed to take masks off for food or drinks

aseanpr 3 5 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - As the number of Covid-19 cases in the community surged over the past week, at least one public hospital has been lax with regard to visitors to its wards. About one in four of them were spending their entire time in a ward without wearing a mask. I can speak only of one hospital because that was what I observed on more than one visit to several of its wards over the weekend. But the reaction of the staff was even more surprising than seeing maskless visitors. I asked a ward nurse why visitors were allowed to remove their masks. She replied that it was because they were eating, but was rather exasperated when I pointed to three people nearby who were clearly not. She then said the same rules that applied to restaurants extended to hospital wards. This begged the question - why were visitors even allowed to eat in the wards? Given the Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals had restricted the number of visitors to two per patient. But letting them spend time in a ward without a mask on - and some were actually walking around the ward without one on - defeats the purpose of the restriction. I noticed a young man had a small bag of potato crisps, occasionally snacking on it. He was i...

Surge in A&E patients at SGH and Sengkang General Hospital, SKH wards operating at full capacity

aseanpr 1 5 月

3 minutes

SINGAPORE - Both Singapore General Hospital (SGH) and Sengkang General Hospital (SKH) have reported a high number of patients at their emergency departments. SKH has said its wards are now running at full capacity. SGH posted about the surge in patients on Facebook on Friday (April 30) morning, while SKH posted on Saturday morning. Both posts said priority will be given to those who are critically ill, and the waiting times for other patients are expected to be longer. Each patient is also allowed only one companion. The post by SKH said: "Our wards are also running at full capacity at the moment." Both hospitals said those with conditions that are not critical are advised to seek medical care at a general practitioner or a polyclinic. SKH has about 1,000 beds, while SGH has about 1,700. It is not known if the sudden surge in patients is related to the recent developments at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, which now has four wards locked down following the discovery of a Covid-19 cluster there. In response to queries from The Straits Times, Dr Kenneth Tan, head and senior consultant at SGH’s Department of Emergency Medicine, sought the public’s understanding and patience. He said: “We are ...

Vaccinated cleaner at care facility among Singapore’s new community Covid-19 cases

aseanpr 30 4 月

4 minutes

A fully vaccinated woman who was working as a cleaner at a community care facility in Tuas South was the sole unlinked case out of the 16 community cases announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (April 29). The 39-year-old Vietnamese national dons full personal protective equipment while at work - including an N95 mask, face shield, gown and gloves. She also periodically helps out at a food stall at The Summit located at the National University of Singapore's Bukit Timah campus. She received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Jan 27, and the second dose on Feb 19. MOH said that while the Covid-19 vaccine is effective in preventing symptomatic disease for the vast majority of those vaccinated, it is possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected. The woman had been asymptomatic, but her case was picked up when she was tested on Monday as part of rostered routine testing, MOH said. Her pooled test result came back positive for Covid-19 the next day, and she was taken by ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. An individual test was done on Tuesday and her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection. Her earlier tests from the routi...

No visitors allowed at Tan Tock Seng Hospital amid investigations into possible Covid-19 cluster there

aseanpr 29 4 月

4 minutes

SINGAPORE - Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) will not allow visitors into its wards until further notice, following the discovery of a possible Covid-19 cluster at the hospital where a nurse, doctor and three patients tested positive for the virus. "These are necessary measures to contain the situation and protect our patients and staff," said the hospital in a Facebook post on Thursday (April 29). "Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience and we thank you for your understanding." The 46-year-old Filipino nurse was confirmed to be a community case on Wednesday, while the four others had been found positive in preliminary tests. The nurse was deployed to Ward 9D, a general ward which had since been locked down following the infections. All patients had been swabbed and isolated. But the hospital remained crowded when The Straits Times visited on Thursday morning, with many arriving for consultations and medical appointments, people in the emergency department and heavy footfall in the food court. Many people said they were still there for regular appointments at the hospital's clinics. One of them, who wanted to be known only as Mr Tan, 62, was accompanying his father for a medical ...

Possible Covid cluster at TTSH of concern, but no need to be paranoid about it: Experts

aseanpr 29 4 月

5 minutes

SINGAPORE - The possible Covid-19 cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) is of concern, but there is no need to be paranoid about it occurring, said several experts. A nurse who had been fully vaccinated was diagnosed with Covid-19 on Tuesday (April 27) after coming down with a cough, body ache and sore throat. Tests of patients and staff at the ward have thrown up a preliminary confirmation of four more cases - a doctor and three patients. If they are confirmed to have Covid-19, this would be the first hospital infection of the disease in Singapore. Professor Dale Fisher, a senior infectious disease consultant at the National University Hospital (NUH), said: "We know Covid is very unforgiving. Such a cluster could have occurred anywhere and we just have to make sure that if there is a case at a hospital, it will be picked up and not allowed to spread." Associate Professor Jeremy Lim from the National University of Singapore Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said the development is worrying and warrants even more prudence, but there is no need to be paranoid. He urged people not to speculate about what happened until investigation results are out. Prof Fisher agreed: "Until ...

Pakistan airline with 14,000 staff for 30 planes to cut half its workforce

elean 28 4 月

4 minutes

ISLAMABAD (BLOOMBERG) - Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will lay off half of its 14,000 employees, replace some of its fleet and permanently close loss-making routes in a bid to become profitable for the first time in more than a decade. Pakistan's cabinet approved the carrier's restructuring, said Ishrat Hussain, an adviser to Prime Minister Imran Khan. It also requested to explore outsourcing management contract or sale of 26 per cent stake in the airline after improving its balance sheet, he said. The plan follows revival attempts in the past that were blocked by protesting employees or political opposition. This time, there are "no grandiose plans to become like Emirates or Etihad or Qatar," Mr Hussain said in a recent interview. It will be "a very lean and efficient organization," he said. The aim is to return PIA to profit by 2023. That would be some turnaround for an airline whose finances and reputation have taken a beating in recent times. Even without Covid-related border restrictions, PIA was banned from key markets including the US and Europe after Pakistan's aviation minister said last year that almost a third of the nation's pilots had fake licences. While some ...

Throat spray and hydroxychloroquine found to reduce risk of Covid-19 infection: S’pore study

aseanpr 25 4 月

5 minutes

SINGAPORE - Using a throat spray or consuming the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine has been found to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection in healthy individuals in areas with high transmission rates. These findings were revealed by a local study of more than 3,000 healthy young migrant workers who were quarantined in Tuas South Dormitory in May last year. The study found that taking a povidone-iodine throat spray three times a day, or the oral drug hydroxychloroquine once daily, reduced the likelihood of getting infected by Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, by over 20 per cent. The study was done by a team of clinician-scientists from the National University Health System (NUHS), led by Associate Professor Raymond Seet, a senior consultant in the division of neurology at the department of medicine in National University Hospital (NUH). The researchers included infectious diseases experts Professor Paul Tambyah and Associate Professor Alex Cook, as well as Dr Amy Quek and Associate Professor Mikael Hartman. Prof Seet said: "Dr Quek, Prof Hartman and I were early volunteers of the dormitory mission where we ran medical posts, swabbed and screened residents with infecti...

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