No cross deployment of dorm staff, says Westlite spokesman
Five days after the Ministry of Health (MOH) said a Covid-19 cluster had formed at Westlite Juniper Dormitory, it announced another cluster at Westlite Mandai Dormitory on Sunday.
Responding to queries from The New Paper, a spokesman for Westlite Accommodation said investigations are under way.
She added: "Staff of Westlite dormitories are separated and there is no cross-deployment of staff between any of our dormitories. There is no contact between our staff nor our vendors' staff of the two dormitories."
The dorm in Mandai has a capacity of 6,300 and as at Aug 1, it housed 4,300 residents, added the spokesman.
As of yesterday, the two clusters remain open, according to MOH. Nine cases are linked to the Mandai dormitory and 15 to the Juniper dormitory.
In an update on the first eight cases in the Westlite Mandai cluster, a Ministry of Manpower (MOM) spokesman said they were all vaccinated and moved to a healthcare facility for further care and treatment.
The spokesman added: "The first case was detected when he had mild acute respiratory illness symptoms and reported sick at one of the regional medical centres. Another seven cases were close contacts of the first. They were detected upon entry to dedicated quarantine facilities and are asymptomatic."
The close contacts of the cases have been isolated and MOM's Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) Group has completed testing of all remaining residents in the dorm, added the MOM spokesman.
In a Facebook post , MOM said ACE Group's chief Tung Yui Fai met the Forward Assurance and Support Team deployed at the Mandai dorm on Tuesday to observe the safe living measures and inspection routines put in place.
Mr Tung also interacted with migrant workers and dormitory staff to understand their concerns and receive feedback.
In April, a cluster at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory led to the testing of 5,500 workers across various dorms and worksites as part of a pre-emptive operation.
The cluster, which had seven cases, was closed on May 25 after no new cases were linked to it for 28 days.
The Westlite spokesman added that since the onset of the pandemic, it has implemented and continually enhanced extensive infection prevention control and safe living measures at its dorms to prevent transmission. It has also hired more staff, including security and safe distancing ambassadors.
As at Sunday, there were 1,030 residents at the Juniper dormitory - it has a capacity of 1,900 - and there have been no new infections there since.
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