Alexandra Hospital ward bars visitors after staff virus case
Quarantine orders issued to 9 patients, 19 staff who were in close contact with her
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Visitors will be barred from a ward in Alexandra Hospital until further notice after an employee tested positive for Covid-19.
She was among the four unlinked cases reported by the Ministry of Health on Wednesday.
In a Facebook post yesterday morning, the hospital said that the 24-year-old Singaporean provided basic nursing care in the affected ward, which is used by patients who require rehabilitation.
It said that the employee had adhered to personal protective equipment guidelines.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, a spokesman for the hospital said that contact tracing for the basic care assistant has been completed, and all 31 inpatients as well as 58 staff in the ward have been swabbed.
On Monday, the infected employee returned to work in the ward after 10 days of leave, said the hospital.
On the same morning, she underwent staff surveillance testing and was asymptomatic. However, she developed a cough later in the day.
Her test result on Tuesday was initially inconclusive, and she was isolated immediately.
A second test the same day came back positive for Covid-19.
Quarantine orders have been issued to 19 staff and nine patients who were in close contact with the employee, the spokesman said.
Staff who are at minimal risk have been advised to monitor their own health.
"We assess that the risk of transmission, while present, is not high as our colleague had worked in only one area of the ward, was isolated early and infection control measures were implemented in a timely manner," the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, the affected ward will stop accepting new admissions and visitors as a precautionary measure.
"Repeated swabs will be arranged according to risk assessment," said the spokesman.
The other areas of the hospital remain unaffected and continue to provide care for the hospital's patients amid strict measures.
The infected employee is now being cared for in an isolation room at the hospital and is currently well, said the Facebook post.
"We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused... We are also updating and supporting the well-being of our patients and families," it added.
Alexandra Hospital is the latest healthcare institution to be hit by the surge in community cases over the past three weeks.
On Sunday, a Raffles Hospital nurse was reported to have Covid-19, while an operating theatre nurse at Sengkang General Hospital was confirmed on May 11 to have the infection.
Following the emergence of Singapore's second-largest active cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital on April 28, many hospitals have started swabbing all their staff to detect Covid-19 cases as early as possible.