The Business Times

Former NTU staff who visited 3 places in university campus tested positive for Covid-19

Published Wed, Sep 9, 2020 · 07:47 AM

[SINGAPORE ] The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) on Wednesday (Sept 9) confirmed that a former employee was on campus while infectious with Covid-19.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) added three locations in the university to a list of places visited by coronavirus patients.

They are Quad Cafe at NTU's School of Biological Sciences, Korean eatery Paik's Bibim in NTU's North Spine Plaza, and the North Spine Food Court.

In an advisory to students on Wednesday, NTU said the former employee's last working day was Aug 28, and he had not been on campus since.

He was not on the teaching staff, and did not show any symptoms while on campus and after he tested positive for the virus.

The university said he was swabbed when he landed at a foreign airport on Sept 1, and he informed NTU of his infection on Sept 4.

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It added that he did not know when or where he was exposed to the virus.

"We thank the former employee for informing us of his test results, and we wish him a speedy recovery," said the university.

NTU added that it has worked with MOH to issue quarantine orders to all close contacts of the former staff.

"As a precautionary measure, we have carried out deep-cleaning at the former employee's work areas," it added. "We have also stepped up cleaning of the affected common locations."

MOH on Wednesday also announced 75 new coronavirus cases.

Among them was a sole patient from the community. The 33-year-old Bangladeshi man, a work permit holder, was linked to a cluster at the Kenyon/UBS construction site in the Dhoby Ghaut area.

He was detected as a result of rostered routine testing of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who live outside dormitories, even though he did not show symptoms.

A total of 14 imported cases were also announced on Wednesday.

Two of them are Singaporeans - a six-year-old boy and a 79-year-old man who arrived here from India.

Of the imported cases, six are permanent residents who also arrived from India.

All the imported patients who returned from India arrived between Aug 24 and Aug 28, said MOH.

Another permanent resident arrived from Ghana on Aug 28.

Three work permit holders currently employed here arrived from the Philippines on Aug 28, while a work pass holder from India arrived here on the same day.

The last imported case is a student's pass holder who arrived from Kazakhstan on Aug 29.

All of them were placed on 14-day stay-home notices upon arrival in Singapore, and were tested while serving their notices at dedicated facilities.

Migrant workers living in dormitories made up the remaining 60 new coronavirus patients announced on Wednesday, taking Singapore's total to 57,166.

Among them, 29 were identified as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission. They were tested during quarantine to determine their status.

The remaining 31 cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as bi-weekly rostered routine testing of workers living in dormitories.

Of the 60 cases residing in dormitories announced on Wednesday, 31 are from Westlite Toh Guan dormitory.

The average number of new daily cases in the community in a week has decreased from three cases two weeks ago to two in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community in a week has also decreased from a daily average of two cases to one over the same period.

With 31 cases discharged on Wednesday, 56,477 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 34 patients remain in hospital, with none in intensive care, while 613 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 27 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

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