Singapore—Changi Airport Group (CAG)’s investigations have shown that the Covid-19 infection cluster at the airport’s Terminal 3 started at the arrival gates and baggage claim hall.
This is where Changi Airport personnel worked closely with passengers who flew in.
Around half of the personnel who tested positive for Covid had been working at the arrival zone.
Mr Lee Seow Hiang, the Chief Executive Officer of CAG, said at a media conference on Monday (May 24) that this suggests the primary infection may have started in places where staff and passengers got into close contact, The Straits Times reports.
The staff that worked at the arrival gates and baggage claim hall associated with staff assigned to the transit areas, departure gates and the Basement 2 foodcourt.
In these areas, “the risk profile is no different than the rest of Singapore”, Mr Lee added.
The infection cluster at Changi Airport has grown to become the biggest in Singapore, with over a hundred cases recorded.
Other parts of the airport are “relatively clean,” according to Mr Lee. He added that almost 97 per cent of the 2,000 personnel assigned to the airport’s central transit area have been tested for Covid.
There are no positive cases from the other areas except for a particular group of staff who had mingled with the personnel working in the arrival zone.
There are 43 Changi Airport personnel who have tested positive for Covid.
Twenty-one of them worked at Terminal 3’s arrival zone. Eleven of them were assigned to the baggage claim hall and 10 at the arrival gates.
There are six cases in the secondary cluster in the transit area near the arrival zone.
One more case was found at the departure immigration checkpoint in the transit area, Mr Lee said.
There is one more secondary site at the foodcourt in Basement 2. Twelve of the 21 people who had got infected at the arrival zone had gone to this area.
It was reported by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and CAG last week that the cluster may have been sparked by an airport worker who helped a family from South Asia.
This family arrived in Singapore on April 29.
On this matter, Mr Lee said, “We have disclosed what we know from a CAG point of view, and I don’t want to speculate on the other details that are ongoing in the investigations.
“We are taking a complete, comprehensive look, based on the World Health Organisation’s and our own health authorities’ understanding of the different modes of transmission.
“That is more or less the most important at the moment, over and above the micro-aspects of individuals.”
/TISG
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