Places visited by TTSH cases to be closed; public advised to stay home if possible

THE authorities have clamped down sharply on activities in public spaces, following a growing Covid-19 outbreak involving Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), which has a cluster of 13 victims, with the first identified on Tuesday.

Members of the public are urged to avoid crowds, and to stay home where possible. They should also limit social interactions, such as visiting another household or gathering in a public area, to just two meetings a day.

In an unprecedented move, all public places visited by the latest cases during their likely-infectious periods will be closed for two days, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced. This is a break with its usual advice, which states that there is no need to avoid places visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Saying that his team is "particularly concerned" about the TTSH cluster, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said at a briefing by the multi-ministry taskforce (MTF) on Friday evening: "We are monitoring this particular cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital very closely. The next few days will be critical.

"If we find many more cases that suggest widespread transmission, we will have to introduce more measures to break the chain of transmission."

Premises recently visited by cases in the TTSH cluster include stores in 100AM, 313 Somerset, AMK Hub, Bugis Junction, Junction 8, Kitchener Complex, Orchard Central and VivoCity, three mosques and a megachurch. These venues will be closed for cleaning and the surveillance testing of workers there.

The authorities are also tightening access to public spaces until May 14.

All outdoor barbecue pits and campsites will be closed, including facilities at condominiums and country clubs. Occupancy of malls and large stores will be lowered to one person per 10 square metres (sq m) of gross floor area, compared with one person per eight sq m before.

Entry restrictions will be reimposed at the downtown malls of Lucky Plaza and Peninsula Plaza, which are popular with foreign domestic workers. The "odd-even" date system was lifted at these places as recently as April 10.

The operating capacity of attractions will also be slashed to 50 per cent between May 7 and May 14, down from 65 per cent previously.

"The restrictions we're putting in place in the community are not simply a gut reaction to what is happening in TTSH," said Kenneth Mak, director of medical services at MOH.

He said the taskforce has been concerned that as community cases have come down, there has been a notable drop in vigilance and discipline in mask-wearing and safe distancing measures.

"There's always the risk we may have become complacent. So the fact that we now have to impose some of these additional measures, compared to previously when we were lightening them, is also a message that we want to give to all of us in the community that we must remain vigilant and everyone's participation in this makes a big difference."

Firms have been told to let staff work from home (WFH) if possible, mere weeks after the MOH allowed a return to workplaces and ended WFH as the default on April 5. The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, two public agencies with offices in Novena, near TTSH, will take the lead in adopting WFH.

MOH said: "These measures help lower transmission risks by reducing interactions at the workplace and in public places, including public transport."

Meanwhile, it is advising all visitors and patients who were at TTSH on April 18 or later to both monitor their health for 14 days and get a government-funded swab test done at Public Health Preparedness Clinics or mass testing sites.

The ministry is already testing all TTSH staff and patients who were on the third to 13th floors of the hospital's main block, and will restrict the movement of healthcare workers into the hospital, including suspending student placements.

"Our recent community cases show that the risks of a Covid-19 outbreak remains high, even as we press ahead with vaccination," the MOH said.

Meanwhile, MTF co-chair Lawrence Wong stressed the importance of going ahead with vaccinations. "We always knew that vaccinations are not 100 per cent ... the fact that breakthrough infections can happen is something we already knew about. So we should not overreact to the news of breakthrough infections, or worse, make the biggest mistake which is to say that all vaccinations don't work and therefore maybe there is no need for a vaccine."

Separately, Assoc Prof Mak said there is still sufficient hospital bed capacity at TTSH and other hospitals to deal with the anticipated number of patients coming out of the current TTSH cluster, additional clusters that may arise in the community, and other patients that require care for other medical conditions.

"At this time, we remain confident that we have sufficient healthcare services and resources to accommodate the needs of our population but we will continue to be vigilant and monitor this very closely.

"We have reserves, as far as resources, beds and equipment, and we stand ready if need be to activate them. But we have not identified a need to do so at this stage."