All 1,100 patients in TTSH to be swabbed by April 30; 8 patients among cluster of 13 Covid-19 cases
Raj Nadarajan/TODAY
- Patients and staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital will complete their swab tests by the weekend
- Affected wards have been locked down and guest visits have been curbed
- As a precaution, public places that confirmed cases have visited will be closed for two days for cleaning
- Members of the public possibly exposed to these cases will be encouraged to go for tests
SINGAPORE — All 1,100 patients in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) will be swabbed to test for Covid-19 by Friday (April 30) evening, and all 4,500 hospital staff working in its main wards will complete their swab tests over the weekend, its chief executive Eugene Soh said on Friday (April 30) as the hospital battles Singapore’s first healthcare cluster of infections.
“As of yesterday, we have started mass screening for all inpatients and staff working in our wards. This is to cast our net wide, in order to contain any potential and hidden risks,” said Dr Soh, who was speaking at a press conference by the multi-ministry task force leading Singapore’s response to Covid-19.
“This includes doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, housekeepers and many other support staff. We will swab and test each and every one of them,” he said.
A total of 13 Covid-19 cases have been identified among the staff and patients of the hospital, out of which there are eight patients, two doctors, a nurse, a cleaner and a healthcare assistant. They have been placed under isolation at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Four staff members and one patient have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Another patient received only one dose.
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Dr Soh added that 76 staff who were close contacts have also been given leave of absence as they are waiting for quarantine orders to be issued to them.
“In view of our manpower situation, we have worked closely with the Ministry of Health to reduce non-urgent electives and non-life threatening A&E (accident and emergency) attendances during this period,” said Dr Soh.
Four wards have also been locked down — which means no one is supposed to enter or exit the wards, he said.
“As a safety measure for our patients and visitors, we are not allowing visitors into our wards till further notice,” he said.
For those whose loved ones are critically ill, the hospital may make exceptions "on a compassionate basis".
Movements of patients will be restricted to only allow essential operations such as testing, and precautions are taken when they are moved. A dedicated group of staff is assigned to take care of the ward, he added.
TTSH cluster of 9 Covid-19 cases includes 6 patients; MOH steps up measures to curb spread
TTSH has stepped up clinical surveillance of all inpatients who may develop fever and acute respiratory infection symptoms in order to draw out any hidden links.
Healthcare institutions have also been reminded to closely monitor patients who were previously admitted at TTSH from April 18.
All visitors and patients who were at TTSH since April 18, 2021 should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit, said a statement from the Ministry of Health (MOH).
“Movement of healthcare workers into TTSH will also be restricted, including the suspension of all healthcare student postings at TTSH and non-essential training,” said MOH.
When asked if Singapore’s healthcare capacity has been impacted by the situation at TTSH, MOH director of medical services Kenneth Mak said the ministry has been looking closely at this.
“At this time we still have sufficient bed capacity, both in TTSH as well as in the other hospitals, to deal with the anticipated number of patients that we might see coming out from this cluster… and other clusters that may arise in the community,” said Associate Professor Mak.
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Singapore also has reserve capacity for beds and equipment, though there is no need to activate them at this stage, he said.
The Government had been preferentially diverting ambulance transfers and evacuations to other hospitals away from TTSH before the cluster emerged, as there was a high bed occupancy rate at the time and the authorities had wanted to ease its load.
This fortuitously allowed TTSH to focus on managing the current outbreak, said Assoc Prof Mak.
PUBLIC PLACES VISITED BY CONFIRMED CASES
Public places visited by these casesduring their infectious period will be shut for two days for cleaning.
Staff at these affected places will also be tested for surveillance against further spread.
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These include three NTUC FairPrice supermarkets at Toa Payoh Hub, Kitchener Complex and VivoCity mall, the Uniqlo store at Orchard Central, several mosques as well as City Harvest Church.
Task force co-chairman Lawrence Wong, who is also the Minister for Education, said that the Government will be sending text messages to anyone who might be possibly exposed to the confirmed cases at these places.
“These are not necessarily the close contacts because the close contacts would have been informed and we would have put them on quarantine. But through the TraceTogether and SafeEntry system, we know that there are people who might be exposed because they were there in these public places at about the same time when the infected cases were there,” said Mr Wong.
These people will be alerted and encouraged to get themselves tested, and will be given instructions on where they could go for testing, which will be free of charge.
“This will also enable us to detect any cryptic cases quickly and better control the infection,” said Mr Wong.
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