An emergency department nurse working at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital is among 12 new Covid-19 cases confirmed in Singapore yesterday, along with her husband.
The 35-year-old nurse and her husband, 37, both Filipinos, are warded in isolation rooms at the hospital. They had both travelled to the Philippines recently.
The woman - Case 167 - tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday afternoon.
She had been in the Philippines from Feb 11 to Feb 17, started work on Feb 18, and had been at work before being admitted.
Her husband, Case 178, had been in the Philippines twice last month, from Feb 11 to Feb 19, as well as from Feb 23 to March 2, to visit a relative with pneumonia, who has since died.
He was confirmed to have Covid-19 yesterday.
In a statement last night, the hospital said that while at work, the nurse had complied with personal protective equipment (PPE) guidelines and infection control measures, and had not attended to any confirmed Covid-19 patients in the last 14 days.
"Our nurse, who had been at work since Feb 18, was well and complied with daily temperature taking and monitoring of health," said Mr Foo Hee Jug, chief executive of Ng Teng Fong Ge-neral Hospital.
The nurse developed a cough on Sunday, and sought medical attention at the staff clinic the next morning.
She stayed at home until her swab result was confirmed on Tuesday, and was taken to the hospital.
Mr Foo said the hospital had taken immediate measures, including contacting emergency department colleagues, and will be monitoring the team closely.
All the common staff areas in the emergency department such as the changing rooms, toilets, pantry, rest spaces and lifts have been disinfected, and contact tracing is under way, he added.
"We will continue with daily checks and audits on infection control practices and PPE compliance, and will remind all staff to adhere to measures to safeguard patients and fellow colleagues," he said.
Among the 12 new cases announced by the Health Ministry yesterday, eight are imported, which means that they caught the disease overseas.
This is the largest number of imported cases Singapore has seen in a day and comes as many countries are struggling to cope with the exponential rise in patient numbers.
