Advertisement

My First Skool at Rivervale Crescent to close for 2 weeks after teacher contracts COVID-19

(SCREENCAP: Google Street View)
(SCREENCAP: Google Street View)

SINGAPORE — The My First Skool campus at 49 Rivervale Crescent would be closed for two weeks, after a female teacher there tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

All affected staff and children will be placed on a leave of absence during the closure starting from Friday (3 April) to 14 April, said the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) in a press statement on Thursday.

Barring any new developments, the centre will resume its programmes on 15 April.

“This covers the 14-day incubation period as the staff was last in the preschool on 31 March,” said the agency, noting that it was informed on Thursday of the case.

The teacher is among 49 new cases announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on the same day. Contact tracing is ongoing.

“The centre will conduct a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the preschool premises and is closely monitoring its staff and parents on the health of their children,” said the ECDA.

“This is in addition to earlier precautionary measures that were implemented in accordance to the MOH’s and the ECDA’s guidelines.”

These include restriction of visitors, suspension of large group and communal activities as well as excursions and field trips, health checks and stepped up temperature screening for all children and staff.

“Preschools are reminded to be vigilant when conducting health checks, and to observe high standards of personal and environmental hygiene,” it added.

“This includes keeping the centre environment clean, and frequent washing of hands with soap – especially before eating or handling food, after toilet visits, or when hands are dirtied by respiratory secretions after coughing or sneezing.”

This comes a week after the ECDA announced that all 360 PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots preschools will be closed for four days, after its Fengshan centre – located at 126 Bedok North Street 2 – was identified as a COVID-19 cluster.

The Fengshan centre, now linked to 27 cases, remains closed till 7 April.

There are some 1,900 preschool centres – run by about 400 operators – here. My First Skool, the pre-school arm of National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) First Campus co-operative, runs over 140 such centres.

Other educational institutions with at least one student or staff member having tested positive for the virus include Palm View Primary School, Maris Stella High, Victoria Junior College, Singapore Institute of Technology, Raffles Institution, and Dover Court International School.

To date, Singapore has 1,049 cases of the virus, including 266 who have fully recovered and have been discharged. 23 remain in the intensive care unit while four have died.

Three new clusters were identified on Thursday at Mustafa Centre, Keppel Shipyard and the construction site at Maxwell MRT station.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

More Singapore stories:

SMRT bus driver of Service 972 contracts COVID-19

COVID-19: What are some legal issues to consider for business cost-cutting measures?

COVID-19: Fine, jail for employers who don't allow telecommuting where possible

COVID-19: Firms can hire existing work permit holders from all sectors under temporary scheme