Two new bus interchange clusters reported; 16 affected personnel with mild or no symptoms: LTA

Singapore — Three new Covid-19 clusters were reported on Saturday (Aug 14) by the Ministry of Health (MOH), two of which belong to the Bishan and Sengkang bus interchanges, affecting 16 personnel.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) confirmed on Sunday (Aug 15) that all the affected bus captains and staff members belonging to the new clusters are asymptomatic or showing mild symptoms.

The Bishan cluster currently has nine Covid-19 cases, while the Sengkang cluster has 13 cases.

The clusters include nine bus captains from Bishan interchange, five bus captains and two staff members from Sengkang bus interchange.

All 16 personnel are vaccinated, with the infections picked up early through routine proactive antigen rapid tests (ART) by SBS Transit, said LTA in a Channel News Asia report.

The 16 affected personnel have been warded in hospitals or placed in isolation centres.

According to Tammy Tan, senior vice president of corporate communications at SBS Transit, 97 per cent of its bus captains have been vaccinated against Covid-19 while the rest have been encouraged to get inoculated.

Meanwhile, SBS Transit has begun intensive cleaning and disinfection efforts at both bus interchanges.

Ms Tan also noted that the air-conditioned Sengkang interchange utilises high-efficiency filters for mechanical ventilation, as required by National Environment Agency standards.

“We will step up testing for all our bus captains at the two interchanges where more frequent ARTs will be conducted as an additional measure during this period,” said Ms Tan.

In line with strict safety management measures, all staff members are required to wear masks except during meal breaks.

They are also prohibited from gathering in groups, while bus captains are advised to dine alone.

The remaining cluster reported belonged to a single case, with three other cases linked to the cluster.

There are currently 111 active clusters in Singapore, ranging between three and 1,155 infections, said MOH.

In its daily Covid-19 update, MOH reported 57 cases of locally transmitted Covid-19 infection.

There are 451 cases warded in the hospital, of which 26 are cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation and nine in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Six of the serious illness cases are fully vaccinated individuals, noted MOH.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 611 cases in the week before to 377 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 166 cases in the week before to 101 cases in the past week. /TISG

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