SingPost: No Risk of Packages Contaminated with Coronavirus After 3 Employees Tested Positive for COVID-19

Have you always wanted to throw away the bills you received from the mail?

With the announcement of 3 SingPost employees being tested positive for COVID-19, which resulted in a cluster in SingPost Centre, is this the best opportunity to do that without feeling guilty about it?

Well, no.

Because SingPost has come out to say that there is “is no known risk” of contracting the virus through physical items so far, and those people have nothing to do with your letters.

So, what happened?

3 SingPost Employees in Packet-Processing Facility in SingPost Centre Tested Positive for COVID-19

Yesterday, it was announced that a new cluster has been found in SingPost Centre.

The cluster doesn’t comprise frontline postmen but workers in a packet-processing facility.

The first patient was tested positive on 24 March 2020 and announced on 25 March 2020. Back then, no one knew that it was going to be a cluster. It was a contract staff, a 47-year-old Singapore PR, who was last in the facility on 19 March 2020.

And yesterday (27 March 2020), 2 full-time employees, a 76-year-old female Singaporean woman and a 29-year-old Malaysian, were reported positive, which led to a cluster. Both of them have worked on the same floor as the contract worker.

SingPost, however, mentioned that they had strict protocols to prevent infections, saying, “This is despite SingPost’s strict health-screening and social distancing protocol for all contractors and staff members.”

So, what is a packet-processing facility?

It’s basically a place whereby your parcels are processed (i.e. slotted lah, prepared lah, etc).

Which’ll of course lead to the burning question: would the toilet paper you’ve ordered online and delivered by SingPost be infected with the coronavirus?

As mentioned earlier, SingPost stressed that there “is no known risk” of contracting the virus through physical items so far.

Reader Bao: Wait, did you just say “so far?”

Yes I did. I quoted it direct—

Reader Bao: *Cancelling toilet paper online orders now*

There’s really no need to do that. The packet processing operations at SingPost was actually suspended for two days (26 March and 27 March) for thorough cleaning and disinfection, and operations are expected to resume on Monday.

And due to this, delivery of packages might be “slightly delayed”.

Reader Bao: And you’re telling me this after you’ve suspended operations since 26 March.

You’re really full of complaints.

Anyway, as you can tell, everything is related to packages, so delivery of normal mails haven’t been disrupted.

In other words, your bills will still arrive promptly in your letterbox.

Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) Also Spoke Out

Because it’s a bigly thing, even IMDA has come out to respond to the situation.

They will be working with SingPost to “minimise impact on mail operation, and to support its efforts to protect the health and well-being of postal workers.”

And if you’re still waiting for the arrival of your toilet rolls?

IMDA added, “We seek the public’s patience and understanding if there are delays in their packet deliveries in the coming week.”

The whole of Singapore is indeed very different from 27 March 2020. Malls having checkpoints, queues becoming longer and now, parcels are coming in later?

Wake me up when 2020 ends.