SINGAPORE: All teaching and non-teaching staff at pre-schools will be tested for COVID-19 from Friday (May 15), in order to reduce the risk of transmission when centres resume full services.
About 30,000 pre-school and early intervention staff, including teachers, principals, programme staff, administrative staff, cooks and cleaners, will take the one-time swab tests, a spokesman for the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said on Thursday.
AdvertisementAdvertisement“After pre-school services fully resume, we will consider a risk-based testing system to protect children and staff,” said ECDA.
[h=3]READ: Lego sushi, artificial snow, obstacle courses: Parents get creative during the COVID-19 circuit breaker[/h]As part of "circuit breaker" measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, all pre-schools, kindergartens and student care centres suspended their general services on Apr 8.
They remain open to provide limited services to students whose parents are in essential services such as healthcare.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAbout 10,000 children, or 5 per cent of all children enrolled in pre-schools in Singapore, have made use of those limited services during the circuit breaker period, ECDA has said previously.
The circuit breaker period, originally set to end on May 4, has since been extended until Jun 1.
Further updates on the approach for the reopening of pre-schools will be announced “in due course”, said the ECDA spokesman.
Pre-school staff have been given priority for testing due to their close and constant contact with children in an enclosed setting, said ECDA.
This is part of increased monitoring to “provide assurance to preschool staff and families to support the phased opening up of general services”, the spokesman added.
“We recognise that these precautionary tests will bring inconvenience to pre-schools and staff, and seek their understanding and support to safeguard the health and well-being of our preschool community,” the spokesman said.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19: Childcare centres to extend 50% fee offset for another month[/h]The tests are the latest precautionary measures to be implemented in pre-schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among children.
Earlier measures include travel declarations for staff, children and visitors, health checks, suspension of group and communal activities, restriction of visitors and safe distancing measures.
All staff, as well as children who are at least two years old, are also required to wear masks.
[h=3]READ: Commentary: Home-based learning can be an opportunity to rethink parenting[/h]There have been several cases of infections in pre-schools.
On Apr 13, ECDA announced that the Jurong branch of E-Bridge Preschool would be closed temporarily after a child tested positive for COVID-19. The child tested positive after a family member contracted the virus.
On Apr 6, a PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots pre-school in Hougang was closed for 10 days after a teacher who provides intervention programmes to a group of children at the centre tested positive for the virus.
All PCF centres in Singapore were earlier closed for four days from Mar 26, after more than 10 employees from the PCF Sparkletots centre in Fengshan tested positive for COVID-19.
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