120 bus captains across seven interchanges infected with Covid-19 so far: LTA

[SINGAPORE]

A TOTAL of 120 bus captains have been infected with Covid-19 so far, said the Land Transport Authority (LTA), which is working with public transport operators to minimise the impact on services.

The number of clusters involving bus interchanges has grown to seven after the first two - at Bishan and Sengkang - were announced on Aug 14.

An LTA spokesman told The Straits Times on Monday that there are currently 23 infected bus captains in the Bishan cluster and 14 in the Sengkang one. Two new clusters, identified last Thursday, currently involve 33 bus captains at the Toa Payoh interchange, and 13 at the Punggol one.

Another three clusters announced over the last three days currently involve nine bus captains in the Clementi interchange, 15 in the Jurong East interchange and 13 in the Boon Lay interchange.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) website said that another 54 cases - staff from these interchanges and their contacts - are also linked to the seven clusters.

The LTA spokesman said many of the cases were picked up early and clusters isolated as a result of community surveillance testing and proactive regular testing.

Of the 120 infected bus captains, four are unvaccinated. The rest are fully inoculated, and most are asymptomatic or showing only mild symptoms.

Overall, 99 per cent of front-line public transport workers have completed their first dose of the vaccine, and over 95 per cent are fully inoculated, said the spokesman.

Asked what is being done to ensure commuter safety at bus interchanges, he added: "Once a cluster at a public transport node is detected, deep cleaning and disinfection is carried at the location as well as on all affected buses and common facilities. This is in addition to the stepped-up cleaning regime that operators have put in place since last year."

Safe-management measures are also strictly enforced, and in light of the recent developments, workers will have to take their meals and smoke breaks alone even if they are fully vaccinated, said the spokesman.

He added that the authorities are monitoring the situation and will work with the operators to make further adjustments where necessary.

THE STRAITS TIMES