Coronavirus: TTSH cluster/events

Hopes of return to normal ops at TTSH with no new cases outside quarantine

Close to 28,000 people have been tested to detect cases linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital cluster, which comprises staff, patients and their close contacts. To date, 45 people infected with Covid-19 have been linked to it, but the latest two cases
Close to 28,000 people have been tested to detect cases linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital cluster, which comprises staff, patients and their close contacts. To date, 45 people infected with Covid-19 have been linked to it, but the latest two cases were patients who were already under quarantine. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI

One new community case lin-ked to the Tan Tock Seng Hos-pital (TTSH) cluster was repor-ted yesterday.

The patient was under quarantine when the case was detected, the Health Ministry's director of medical services, Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, said at a virtual media conference by the multi-ministry task force tackling the Covid-19 pandemic.

With no new cases detected outside of quarantine, there are hopes of a return to normal operations for the hospital.

Prof Mak said the TTSH cluster is reaching the end of its incubation period.

"If we continue to not see any cases beyond those that are already in quarantine, we may work with the hospital subsequently to see how to bring (it) back to normal operations progressively over the next few weeks," he said.

The last case in the cluster before yesterday's was also from within the quarantine net, and was associated with Ward 9D.

Ward 9D, a C class ward with 35 to 40 patients at the time of the hospital outbreak, is the nucleus of the cluster.

About two-thirds of the patients in this ward contracted Covid-19 while being treated for other conditions.

To date, 45 people who have been infected are linked to the TTSH cluster. One died from Covid-19 complications on May 1.

The TTSH cluster is Singapore's first hospital cluster.

It comprises staff, patients and their close contacts.

Close to 28,000 people have been tested in the effort to detect cases linked to it, said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, who co-chairs the task force, and takes on the trade and industry portfolio from today.

The cluster emerged on April 27, after the Covid-19 diagnosis of a nurse in Ward 9D.

The last case in the cluster before yesterday's was a 64-year-old Singaporean woman who was a patient in Ward 9D from April 26 and was moved to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on April 28.

She was identified as a close contact of a previous case and placed on quarantine on April 29.

She was discharged on May 2, and continued to be under quarantine.

She tested positive for Covid-19 on May 11 during quarantine.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 15, 2021, with the headline Hopes of return to normal ops at TTSH with no new cases outside quarantine. Subscribe