Coronavirus Singapore
8,000 office workers at Changi Airport to be tested over next few days
Nearly 10,000 airport workers tested since last Sunday, with 35 testing positive: CAAS
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The drop-off point outside Changi Airport Terminal 3's departure hall. Changi Airport is Singapore's largest active Covid-19 cluster, with a total of 68 cases as at yesterday. The stepped-up testing is part of an expanded special testing operation to ring-fence the cluster.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
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About 8,000 office workers at Changi Airport's passenger terminal buildings will be tested over the next few days, as an ongoing special testing operation to ring-fence the Covid-19 cluster there is expanded.
Changi Airport is Singapore's largest active Covid-19 cluster, with a total of 68 cases as at yesterday.
In a statement yesterday, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) said nearly 10,000 airport workers have been tested since last Sunday. Of these, 35 have tested positive for the virus. None of them is in serious condition.
Other stepped-up measures at Changi Airport include the segregation of travellers arriving from high-risk regions from people coming from countries with a lower Covid-19 risk profile.
They will be assigned a different pier from the ones used by people coming from places with a lower risk profile, and also use different arrival immigration halls, baggage belts and toilets, CAAS said.
Travellers from high-risk areas will be escorted at all times as they move around the airport.
They will also have their on-arrival Covid-19 testing done at separate health screening stations.
Staff working in these areas, such as immigration officers, will also be ring-fenced and segregated by zones.
There will be separate rest areas for different work teams and those in the zones dealing with travellers from higher-risk regions will have their food delivered to them.
The new measures were announced after Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Friday that workers infected with Covid-19 at Changi Airport were mainly working in a zone that received travellers from higher-risk regions, including South Asia.
He said that the airport identified this trend after studying the 20-plus initial infections in the airport cluster.
In response to media queries, CAAS said it has adopted a multi-layered approach based on the risk profiles of passengers since March last year.
Passengers from very high-risk regions were already being processed separately from all other arriving passengers since that time.
But since early this month, passengers arriving from low-risk regions have been further segregated from all other arriving passengers.
Since transit resumed in June last year, those in transit are also guided to a transfer holding area separated from other passengers.
Eventually, all airport workers in higher-risk roles will be placed on a seven-day rostered routine testing cycle, regardless of their vaccination status.
This is a step up from the current 14-day cycle.
About 90 per cent of front-line aviation workers have been vaccinated and vaccination operations for the remaining 10 per cent and other essential aviation workers are also being stepped up.
CAAS added that many of those who tested positive had eaten at outlets at Terminal 3 Basement 2, which has been closed since last Monday for cleaning and disinfection.
A thorough review of the outlets' hygiene practices and safe management measures is also in progress.
Cleaning and disinfection are also ongoing at Jewel Changi Airport and similar operations will be extended to the transit areas where airport workers were suspected to have been infected.
Members of the public who had visited Changi Airport Terminal 3 from May 1 will be offered free Covid-19 testing and are strongly encouraged to take this test.
The Ministry of Health will progressively inform these individuals via SMS notification about how to book an appointment for their test.
CAAS said: "Airport workers have been reminded to exercise social responsibility, minimise social interactions, and are encouraged to get vaccinated and tested to protect themselves and their loved ones."
