Changi Airport workers to be segregated into risk-based zones
Only younger and vaccinated workers in highest-risk area; more frequent tests
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Outbound passengers wearing personal protective equipment while on their way to the departure gates in Changi Airport Terminal 3 yesterday. From June 13, the departure and arrival gates will be considered one of the highest-risk areas for Covid-19 infection in the airport.
ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
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The Changi Airport Group (CAG) has taken steps to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection, while still maintaining Singapore's links with the rest of the world.
It will segregate about 14,000 airport workers into three distinct zones, and impose stricter measures to ensure that the 4,400 workers in the highest-risk zone are protected from Covid-19 and isolated from other staff and the public.
These measures include testing workers more frequently, deploying only younger and vaccinated workers in the highest-risk zone, and ensuring they wear the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
Travellers from "very high-risk" countries will be escorted to remote gates in Terminal 2 - which is currently closed for renovation - for immigration clearance and Covid-19 testing, before they are transported directly to their quarantine facility from the gate by bus, CAG said yesterday.
CAG did not specify these "very high-risk" countries, saying that the risk assessment is dynamic.
The new measures are being introduced progressively and will be fully in place when Terminals 1 and 3, as well as Jewel Changi Airport, reopen to the public on June 13.
CAG chief executive Lee Seow Hiang said this is a fundamental redesign of the airport's operating processes, based on the assumption that transient contact with all incoming travellers - previously thought to be low-risk - is risky.
This also comes after a cluster of more than 100 people, many of whom had contracted the more infectious B1617 variant, emerged this month.
CAG found that 23 of the 43 infected staff in the airport cluster worked near the arrival gates.
They were found to be spread out in the arrival zone, suggesting that this area was where the "primary infection" occurred.
Thus, from June 13, the departure and arrival gates, arrival immigration halls and baggage claim halls will be considered the highest-risk area (Zone 1) in the airport, CAG said.
The departure immigration areas and the central transit areas are the next lower-risk areas (Zone 2), while public meeting areas in the airport will be considered the lowest risk (Zone 3).
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Stricter measures
• Operating terminals split into three zones: One where arriving passengers interact with airport staff, a central transit area and public areas.
• Only younger and vaccinated workers will be deployed in highest-risk zone. They will be tested once a week and isolated from staff in other zones.
• Inbound and outbound passengers segregated so they do not cross paths.
• Travellers from "very high-risk countries" cleared at remote gates in Terminal 2.
Airport workers will be cohorted to avoid cross-deployment.
Those working in Zone 1 cannot leave their zone during their shift and also have to wear full personal protective equipment. There will be 14 dedicated dining and rest areas for these workers.
In addition, only younger, fully vaccinated workers will be deployed to Zone 1.
CAG said it is aiming to get more than 90 per cent of Zone 2 and Zone 3 workers vaccinated in the coming weeks. Mr Lee said that more than 90 per cent of front-line staff have received both vaccine doses, while the vaccination rate among general airport workers was in the high 80s.
The testing regimen for workers will be stepped up as well.
Zone 1 workers will need to take a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test every seven days, up from the current 14 days, and undergo an antigen rapid test (ART) on the third day.
CAG said it is planning to introduce daily non-invasive tests for Zone 1 workers at the end of their shifts to give them peace of mind when they go home to loved ones.
Mr Lee said CAG is looking closely at technology like breathalyser tests. He added that the new operating model "will be with us as long as Covid-19 is with us".
Mr Lee said these measures were being implemented in recognition of a "deeper understanding" of the B1617 variant.
He noted that the World Health Organisation had issued an advisory about possible airborne transmission only this month.
Mr Lee said: "We now know clearly where the primary zone of infection was and so, together with our partners, we have been busy rethinking, reinventing our operational processes... In so doing, we will safeguard the safety of all our airport workers and Singaporeans at large."
