The Singapore Expo has been transformed within a matter of days from a vibrant, fun exhibition area to a community care facility to take care of “early” Covid-19 patients who are mostly well and those who’ve recovered from the coronavirus.
While they’re deemed as patients who don’t need “as much medical attention”, they will still be given medical help by nurses, SAF soldiers and other medical personnel deployed to the facility.
And now, three of them have been infected.
Three Healthcare Personnel At Singapore Expo Tested Positive For Covid-19
According to the Ministry of Health (MOH) daily report on 5 May, case 19,360 is a 20-year-old male nurse deployed to Singapore Expo.
He was tested positive for Covid-19 infection and is currently warded at the National Centre For Infectious Diseases (NCID).
He has no travel history to affected regions or countries.
Before he was warded at the hospital, he had gone back to work at the Singapore Expo.
He is the third healthcare worker at Expo to be infected.
On 2 May, a 34-year-old nurse was tested positive for the coronavirus.
And on 4 May, a 52-year-old Singaporean healthcare volunteer at the community isolation facility was confirmed to be infected.
More Than 66 Healthcare Workers & Support Staff Have Been Infected
According to Health Minister Gan Kim Yong, 66 healthcare workers and support staff were infected as of 26 Apr 2020.
Of the 66, 46 of them had direct contact with Covid-19 patients.
He went on to say that after investigations, it was deemed that these healthcare staffs were not infected “in the line of duty”, except for one case “in a private institute” where they cannot “rule out” the possibility of a doctor being infected by a Covid-19 patient.
He added that “many were imported cases, cases due to household transmission, or linked to church clusters”.
Nonetheless, the ministry will “take good care” of the healthcare workers and staff:
“Nevertheless, in the event that our healthcare workers fall sick, we will ensure that they are well taken care of.
Under such unfortunate circumstances, our institutions stay in touch with infected healthcare workers to check-in on their general well-being.”
Healthcare workers and staff, he adds, are taking the extra careful precautions to protect themselves when going about their duties.
Healthcare Workers, Our Heroes
If there’s any doubt that healthcare workers are anything but heroes, it has been washed away with this outbreak.
Many of them, despite having families and loved ones waiting for them at home, are risking their lives to keep Singapore safe.
Let us all do our part as well, not just by clapping at 8pm, but also making sure that we follow the CB measures to the letter so that we don’t add to their workload and risk.
For those who are looking to actively help out, you might want to check out the SG Health Corps which is recruiting people, medically trained or not, to support the healthcare workforce in Singapore.
Think SAF and our guys in the logistics sector, supporting the soldiers going out to chiong sua.
Once again, to all healthcare workers and support staff out there, thank you and please, stay safe.
