Seaport, airport step up Covid-19 precautionary measures

Singapore

SINGAPORE is ramping up precautionary measures for both its seaport and Changi Airport after 12 workers contracted Covid-19 in the past 10 days, according to two separate announcements on Sunday night.

Over the past 10 days, four workers at the seaport facilities have been detected to be infected with Covid-19, while there were eight cases at Changi Airport.

All workers in Changi Airport's Terminals 1 and 3, as well as in Jewel, will undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test starting May 9. About 9,000 workers will be tested. Terminal 2 is currently not operating.

In addition, all vaccinated frontline airport workers who have earlier been placed on a 28-day rostered routine testing cycle will now be placed on a 14-day cycle.

Changi Airport Terminal 3 Basement 2 (T3 B2) will be closed to the public temporarily from May 10, pending the Ministry of Health's (MOH) investigations. Several of the Covid-19 cases had visited outlets there.

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Other than deep cleaning, staff working in these food and beverage (F&B) and retail outlets will have to test negative for Covid-19 before the outlets are allowed to reopen. All F&B outlets in T3 B2, when reopened, will only be allowed to provide take-aways to airport staff.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) said in a joint statement that it will work with affected companies to minimise the impact of these arrangements on their staff and airport operations. Rental rebates will be provided to affected tenants to provide financial support, they said.

About 92 per cent of frontline aviation workers have been vaccinated.

There are also additional measures for Changi Airport's contractors.

The main cleaning contractor for Changi Airport Terminal 3 will be placed on a safety time-out for 14 days with effect from May 10, following the detection of four Covid-19 positive cases among its cleaners.

During this period, the contractor will be required to conduct a full safety review, complete refresher training for their cleaners, and reinforce segregation arrangements at work for their cleaners to minimise mixing.

It will resume cleaning of T3's public areas when all these requirements have been met and all its staff have tested negative for Covid-19.

The airport's main security service provider will also be reinforcing training and pre-operations briefings for its frontline staff at the airport after the discovery of two Covid-19 cases.

Separately, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) is working with MOH and port operator PSA Singapore, on additional precautionary measures at the seaport.

The frequency of rostered routine testing of frontline dormitory workers will be increased from every 14 days to seven days to detect Covid-19 cases earlier. This applies to both vaccinated and unvaccinated workers.

Segregation measures have also been enhanced in the terminals with separate zoning and measures to minimise mixing. In addition, terminal canteens will only allow takeaways for office staff while packed food will be delivered to frontline staff.

Separate toilets and other facilities for different groups of workers have also been arranged, with workers advised to avoid contact with the ship crew in the course of their work and to maintain good hygiene practices.

MPA will also step up the vaccination of maritime personnel. More than 32,800 maritime personnel, including seaport workers, have received at least one dose of vaccine. Among them, some 25,500 have been fully vaccinated. Another 6,000 maritime personnel will be vaccinated in the coming weeks.

Earlier, two vaccinated lashing workers who worked in Pasir Panjang Terminal and stayed in the dormitories at Pasir Panjang Residence, had tested positive for Covid-19 during rostered routine testing and the subsequent contact tracing exercise. Both were asymptomatic.

Following the third and fourth cases involving a trailer truck driver and an operations assistant, close to 4,000 port workers were tested for Covid-19. As at 3pm on Sunday, 2,750 have tested negative.

In a Facebook post, Ong Ye Kung, Minister for Transport, wrote: "We have implemented many measures at our seaport and airport to defend against Covid-19. But 12 infections is worrying, and we will immediately strengthen our defence against the more infectious mutant variants."

"A lot is at stake if our seaport and airport cannot function. One clear implication is our supply lines, and future survival of Changi Airport. We need to protect our frontliners in order to protect the rest of Singapore."

There were 28 new Covid-19 cases, including 10 in the community, the Ministry of Health reported on Sunday. This takes Singapore's total number of cases to 61,359.