Theindependent
Additional safety measures to be implemented at airport
Photo: Facebook/ Changi Airport
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Singapore—The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport and the Manpower Ministry said in a joint statement on Sunday (May 23) that the family believed to have been the source of the Covid-19 cluster at Changi Airport did not arrive from India.
The Changi Airport cluster is currently the largest in Singapore, with over 100 cases.
The infection could not have started from travelers from India because starting from March of this year, India stopped international commercial services to and from Singapore.
According to the joint statement, Singapore Airlines is allowed to operate only cargo flights to India.
The sole passenger flights between India and Singapore are Vande Bharat flights, an initiative of the Indian government to repatriate nationals who have been stranded because of the pandemic.
There are around 180 people flying to from Singapore to India every day, and about 25 passengers arrive from India daily, the “vast majority” of them Singapore citizens and permanent residents.
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They travel on Indian carriers assigned by the Indian government and approved by Singapore.
When passengers arrive at Changi Airport, they undergo antigen rapid tests and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. After this, they are taken to designated facilities to serve stay-home notices for 21 days.
Last Friday (May 21), the Changi Airport Group issued a press release that said “Phylogenetic testing results for an initial batch of Covid-19 positive airport workers were found to be similar and of the B1617 variant, indicating that they originated from a common source.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that the initial transmission could have occurred through an airport worker who was assisting a family from South Asia, who arrived in Singapore on April 29, 2021, and were subsequently found to be positive for Covid-19 through their On-Arrival Tests.”
It added that further investigations by the Ministry of Health and the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore are ongoing.
In another statement issued on May 24, the Changi Airport Group said that following an operational analysis of the recent outbreak, new airport-wide infection-control measures would be implemented to curb the spread of the virus, given the more transmissible nature of the new variant.
The following are the additional safety measures:
1. Segregation of the workplace with strict access controls between zones, and with no mingling of workers between Zone 1 (highest risk) and the rest of the zones during shifts
2. Enhanced level of personal protective equipment (PPE) protection for all workers in Zone 1, as well as strengthened protocols for the donning and doffing of PPE with regular training and audits to reinforce the right practices;
3. Ensuring all workers in Zone 1 are fully vaccinated; and
4. Working towards daily non-invasive rapid testing of Zone 1 workers at the end of their shifts.
/TISG
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