Home Team Academy training moved online as officer tests positive
All training activities conducted at the Home Team Academy (HTA) will move online for the next two weeks or be postponed until further notice, after an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer deployed there contracted Covid-19.
All ICA officers from its Training Command at HTA - including trainees - will also be tested for Covid-19 while ICA's training activities have been suspended for two weeks.
A spokesman for the authority told The Straits Times yesterday that the officers have been instructed to stay home and monitor their health.
This comes after an ICA officer, who is an executive overseeing training policy at ICA Training Command, tested positive on Saturday.
He had been in quarantine before testing positive as he is the brother and close contact of another Covid-19 patient, also an ICA officer.
"HTA has ceased using the affected areas and will be conducting a thorough disinfection of these areas," said the spokesman, noting that disinfection will be done according to the National Environment Agency's guidelines.
The officer, 32, is the younger brother and household contact of another ICA officer, 38, who was deployed at Changi Airport Terminal 1 and tested positive on April 27.
The younger officer had received the second dose of his Covid-19 vaccination on Feb 17.
An update for some 130 ICA officers at Changi Airport who were tested was also provided.
The first swab test results for the 32 ICA officers at Changi Airport who were close contacts of the officer infected with Covid-19 have come back negative. Similarly, about 100 other officers tested as a precaution returned negative results.
The 38-year-old ICA officer, a deputy team leader at Changi Airport, was deployed at the duty officer counter at Terminal 1, which processes arrival clearance for travellers.
ICA said on Sunday that operations at Changi Airport have been consolidated to Terminals 1 and 3, each of which has two arrival immigration halls and one departure immigration hall.
The spokesman said training sessions at HTA have been conducted with safe management guidelines, including temperature checks for all visitors, mandating that masks be worn at all times except when eating, drinking or doing strenuous exercise, and adhering to safe distancing during lessons.
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