Singapore’s airport stated on Monday it was stepping up measures to keep out the coronavirus, together with further segregating arrivals and about 14,000 workers into different risk zones, after it became the nation’s largest active COVID-19 cluster.
The Changi airport cluster, which involves over 100 cases, may have initially spread through a worker who helped an infected family arriving within the nation, according to authorities. Some of the cases included the B.1.617 variant first detected in India.
Staff within the highest risk zone – the terminal piers, arrival immigration hall, and baggage claim – will be vaccinated, segregated from other staff, given full protective clothing, and subject to enhanced testing, the airport operator stated in a statement.
Passengers from very high-risk nations shall be escorted through immigration to their quarantine facilities without going through the other terminals, it stated.
Authorities have been criticized on the internet and social media for not introducing such measures earlier given the international impact of highly contagious variants.
Singapore’s Health Minister Ong Ye Kung this month stated airport staff who received travelers from high-risk nations may have infected others within the airport’s food outlets.
The airport outbreak is part of a resurgence of infections in Singapore, which reported 24 local cases on Monday, which follows months of reporting few or no local cases each day.
