Tan Tock Seng Hospital – an epicentre of Covid-19 – reopens Ward 9D

Singapore – Ward 9D, an epicentre of the current Covid-19 outbreak, in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), is reopening from Saturday (May 22), with enhanced measures to protect patients and staff.

Ward 9C, another lockdown ward, will also accept admissions on Saturday, while wards 7D and 10B have already been opened for admissions, reported the Straits Times.

The hospital had announced on Tuesday that admission would be resumed after all inpatients got six round of swab and 12,000 staff got 2 rounds of testing with consistently negative results.

TTSH provided that the cause of transmission within the hospital is still under investigation.

A report, accepted by World Health Organisation and the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, suggested a stronger transmission in some particular settings such as a closed environment with limited airflow and poor ventilation.

Singapore’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak had said on Tuesday that the possibility of airborne transmission in the hospital was taken into account.

TTSH has installed exhaust fans and portable Hepa filters in Ward 9D to create better ventilation and air purification to facilitate air change around six to 12 times per hour.

Ward 9D has a bed capacity of 40, divided into cubicles with an average of six beds per cubicles.

Dr Hoi Shu Yin, a chief nurse at TTSH, shared that each cubicle in the ward was equipped with exhaust fans to constantly replace the air in the cubicle.

Meanwhile, the portable Hepa filter would help to remove dust, pollen, mould and bacteria airborne.

Dr Hoi added that deep cleaning with ultraviolet and hydrogen peroxide vapour would be launch across the entire ward preparing for the reopening.

There would also be an increase in the frequency of inpatient wards cleaning from once a day to twice a day.

Associate Professor Bernard Thong said that routine testing would be launched every two weeks for those who have been vaccinated and once a week for those who have not.

The TTSH divisional chairman for medicine added that more than 80 per cent of the hospital’s staff have been vaccinated.

The hospital also increased the use of personal protection equipment (PPE), since the emergence of the cluster.

“In the inpatient setting, PPE includes the use of goggles, N95 masks, as well as gowns… on top of the usual hand hygiene measures which have been enforced during this period of time,” said Dr Thong.

The staff also divide into zones to avoid intermingling.

Upon the announcement of reopening, Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung also wrote a welcoming speech for TTSH expressing his best wish for all the staff.

Phuong Le Ha is an intern at The Independent SG/TISG