Admittedly, it’s been quite a while since we read about a cluster that’s not a dormitory, much less one that we’re familiar with.
Well, today’s that day.
A new cluster has been founded in Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub, a bus interchange that also connects with the Bukit Panjang MRT and LRT Stations.
So how was it discovered?
You might need to read this 1,600-word article that summarises the press conference that the multi-ministry task force held yesterday (24 July 2020); if not, here’s a brief idea of what’s known as a swab operation at a newly emergent workplace cluster.
Unlike days when Circuit Breaker was a box in our house, when people were issued quarantine orders when their colleagues were tested positive, the authorities are now testing everyone in a workplace when it could’ve been a cluster. For example, in Keppel Shipyard and Northpoint City, over 1,300 workers were tested, and 2 were detected through this massive sweep. This excludes close contacts of the positive cases.
And that was what happened to the latest case, a Malaysian who went to work at Ulu Pandan Bus Depot and Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub.
He’s linked to three other cases.
However, he might be a past infection as he had his first symptoms on 1 July 2020, and his serology test turned out positive.
If you’re wondering if he (or someone in his cluster) could’ve been infected by a COVID-19 case who frequent the area, since there’s indeed one case of an infectious person in Bukit Panjang Plaza in the latest list of places that COVID-19 patients have been to (it could be one of them, though), fret not.
The authorities have also conducted swab operation to test individuals at retail premises frequented by multiple positive cases. MOH recently tested close to 60 staff of Sheng Siong supermarket at New World Centre and over 40 staff at Haniffa supermarket at Dunlop Street. None turned out positive.
If there’s one takeaway from this article, it’s this: now you know why the authorities have ramped up their testing capacity, and target to perform 40,000 tests a day.
In the meantime, you can download the TraceTogether app to help fight COVID-19. If you’re still worried about privacy, then watch this video (and also subscribe to our YouTube channel, please?):
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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