SINGAPORE - Healthcare workers who develop coronavirus symptoms are told not to return to work to make sure they do not spread the virus to patients, said the Health Ministry's director of medical services Associate Professor Kenneth Mak on Sunday (April 5).

This is among a series of stringent measures imposed within Singapore's healthcare institutions to stem Covid-19 infections.

Prof Mak was addressing concerns after six healthcare workers tested positive over the weekend. There were two healthcare workers among the 120 new Covid-19 cases announced on Sunday, and four among the 75 cases reported last Saturday.

"When any of the healthcare individuals develop symptoms, they are taken out of circulation and they are not told to come back to work... in order to make sure that we safeguard the safety and welfare of our patients," he said.

"We continue to look after our healthcare workers, particularly those who are affected. We continue to support them and their families, just as we do for other patients, and we continue to make sure that they are not a risk to any of the other people, whether patients, relatives or fellow staff members in the healthcare system."

The first healthcare worker identified on Sunday is a 35-year-old doctor at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

She had not gone to work since the onset of symptoms and has been admitted to an isolation room at Singapore General Hospital.

The second identified the same day is a 27-year-old Indian national and Singapore work pass holder who has been admitted to an isolation room at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, where he is employed as a technician.

He was at work for less than an hour after the onset of symptoms.

Prof Mak further noted that there is no evidence at the moment to show that any patient had spread the infection to healthcare workers.

"I do look at each of these cases (of healthcare workers with the virus) to try and determine where they might have got the infections from, and a number of these individuals in fact got the infection from travel outside Singapore... to countries around the world where the risk of community spreading is much higher," he said.

These individuals developed symptoms when they return to Singapore but the exposure to the coronavirus occurred while they were overseas, Prof Mak added.

There have also been healthcare workers among the many cases who have spread Covid-19 to other members of their households.

"(They) fit the same pattern where (the spreading of the infection occurs in the) household context... and it just so happened that the family member that got infected was a healthcare worker," Prof Mak said.

"We've looked very carefully and we've continued to be vigilant to make sure that healthcare workers who have the infection are not the source of infection spreading it to other patients."