Jewel and airport terminals to close to public for two weeks
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While travellers and some staff can still access Changi Airport's passenger terminal buildings, Jewel Changi Airport will be completely closed. The move will take place while workers at the airport continue to be tested for Covid-19. Changi Airport Group will also clean and disinfect the airport during the closure.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Toh Ting Wei
All Changi Airport passenger terminal buildings and Jewel Changi Airport will be closed to the public for two weeks from today.
While travellers and some staff can still access the terminal buildings, Jewel will be completely closed.
The closures come as the number of Covid-19 cases linked to the airport continues to grow.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) said the move will take place while workers at the airport continue to be tested for Covid-19. CAG will also clean and disinfect the airport during the closure.
Given the evolving nature of Covid-19, the authorities will continue to review and adjust the measures as necessary. This includes extending the closure if required.
CAAS and CAG said: "Changi Airport remains open for air travel during this period. Passengers may also continue to be dropped off and picked up from the airport.
"Access to the passenger terminal buildings will be restricted to only passengers with air tickets and essential airport workers. Some essential services and food and beverage outlets will remain open to serve them."
Total number of cases in Changi Airport cluster now at 25
Airport workers and staff working at Jewel have been asked to refrain from going out except for essential work or activities in the next 14 days, until they have tested negative for Covid-19.
They should also not be redeployed to other workplaces or outlets during this period.
Seven of the community cases announced yesterday are linked to the Changi Airport cluster, taking the total number of cases in the cluster to 25.
The airport Covid-19 cluster emerged after an 88-year-old cleaner deployed at Terminal 3 tested positive for Covid-19 on May 5.
It is now the second-largest active cluster, after the one at Tan Tock Seng Hospital which has 44 cases as at yesterday.
Meanwhile, several people in the Changi Airport cluster had preliminarily tested positive for the B1617 variant and are pending further confirmatory tests.
Changi Airport began a special testing operation on Sunday to test 9,000 workers to root out any hidden Covid-19 cases among airport workers.
Its main cleaning contractor for Terminal 3, Ramky Cleantech Services, has been placed on a safety time-out for 14 days since Monday, after Covid-19 cases were detected recently among its cleaners.
The airport had also closed Basement 2 at Terminal 3 to the public starting from Monday, pending the Ministry of Health's investigations. The area was of particular concern as several of the Covid-19 cases had visited outlets there.
In a Facebook post yesterday evening, Changi Airport said its highest priority remains the well-being of employees, visitors and passengers, and it remains "optimistic that we can win this ongoing fight against Covid-19".
In response to queries about how the temporary closure of the airport terminals will affect the planned travel bubble with Hong Kong, the Ministry of Transport (MOT) said it is monitoring the Covid-19 situation in both cities.
"Hong Kong is recording very low or zero daily cases currently," said MOT. "Updates will be provided should there be any further developments."
Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, had said on Tuesday that Singapore is on a knife-edge in terms of the Covid-19 situation.
He said the Republic has a chance of getting things under control by the end of the month, but it will take only one lapse or irresponsible action for an infection to spread.
There has been an uptick in cases here, with 10 new community cases yesterday, 12 open clusters, and 12 unlinked cases in the past week.
At least 10 different virus variants have infiltrated the Republic, and some of these could be driving infections here.
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