Three new cases of COVID-19 infection have been confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Thursday, 27 February, the health agency said in its daily update.
This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 96.
Three new cases of COVID-19
Of the new cases of COVID-19 confirmed here, one is a 12-year-old boy, a Year 1 student from Raffles Institution (RI). He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 27 February afternoon, and is currently warded in an isolation room at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. | Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
He and another case, a 44-year-old Singaporean male, are both linked to previous cases. The Singaporean male was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 27 February morning, and is currently warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
National Centre For Infectious Diseases (NCID) Building in Singapore. | Image source: NCID website
The other case is 64 year-old Singaporean female who onset of symptoms on 11 February and had sought treatment at a general practitioner (GP) clinic on 17 February, 20 February and 24 February. She was referred to SGH on 24 February and was immediately isolated. Subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on 26 February afternoon.
Prior to hospital admission, she had mostly stayed at her home in the Jalan Jurong Kechil area. She is currently warded in an isolation room at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).
All three have not travelled recently to China, as well as the South Korean city of Daegu and Cheongdo county where over 1700 cases have been confirmed as of Thursday.
Raffles Institution, MOE Learning Centre (Bishan) suspend classes and activities
As a precautionary measure, Raffles Institution will be suspending classes on Friday, 28 February to conduct a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the school premise. Suspensions include:
- Classes for Year 1 to 6. School will resume on Monday, 2 March 2020.
- CCAs for Year 1 to 6 in RI for two weeks.
Raffles Institution will also issue aa 14-day Leave of Absence (LOA) for students, teachers and staff who had recently come into contact with the student. Contact tracing is on-going, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said.
These measures will provide another layer of protection for Raffles Institution, in addition to the earlier precautionary measures that the MOE had announced for the entire school system, which limits exposure to the school community in the event that a school staff or student gets infected. They include:
- Suspension of a large group and communal activities such as assemblies, camps and mass celebrations
- Staggering of recess times in schools
- Suspension of all external school activities, inter-school activities and Learning Journeys until the end of the March school holidays
“As the student had attended a language class on Thursday, 20 February, at MOE Language Centre (Bishan), classes will also be suspended for one day, on Friday, 28 February, to conduct a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of the school premise. Students, teachers and staff of the Language Centre who were in close contact with the student will be issued a 14-day LOA,” said MOE.
Four more recoveries
Meanwhile, four more cases have been discharged from hospital today. In all, 66 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged.
The health agency has urged Singaporeans to defer all travel to Hubei Province and all non-essential travel to Mainland China, and Daegu and Cheongdo in the Republic of Korea.
MOH also reminds the public to continue to exercise caution when travelling to the rest of the Republic of Korea.