More than half of the patients who might have been exposed to hepatitis C at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) have been tested negative.

In a statement by SGH yesterday, it said that 441 out of 678 patients have been screened. These patients were admitted to wards 64A and 67 from January to June.

Of those who have been screened, 368 have tested negative for hepatitis C - a blood- borne virus - and the patients have been informed.

The remaining 73 results are pending.

Also, 272 out of 319 staff have been screened, SGH said in its statement. The results of 263 of them are ready, and they have all tested negative, too.

Last week, SGH revealed that 22 kidney patients had contracted hepatitis C infections while receiving treatment in the hospital. Eight of the patients have died, and five deaths could be linked to the infection.

The Health Ministry has since launched a separate investigation of the matter.

The Independent Review Committee will be investigating how the hepatitis C infections occurred, and look into the timeline of events provided by the hospital to see whether there were any gaps in the process.