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SINGAPORE : Childcare centres around Singapore reported 527 cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) on April 21 alone.
The figure was released by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), which has been stepping up checks on childcare centres since two months ago.
The Health Ministry has also tightened its policy, following the spike in number of cases in the past few weeks.
At Kidsville Child Care and Development Centre in Yishun, checks for symptoms of the HFMD have been in place for a few years, since Singapore was hit by SARS. So far, over the past few weeks, no child at the centre has been detected with HFMD.
It is a different story over at Pat's Schoolhouse at No. 3 Halifax Road. At least 18 children came down with HFMD between March 31 and April 22. So the Health Ministry has ordered the school to close for 10 days.
The centre is using that period to sanitise the place. "There will be a lot of cleaning to do, to ensure that the place is sterile when the kids get back to school," said Julia Teo, Operations Manager of Pat's Schoolhouse.
Meanwhile, the childcare centre is trying to help parents find alternative arrangements for the affected children.
"We are also looking at alternative care - for parents who have difficulties having the kids at home because they have already exhausted their leave over the last three weeks, we are looking at deployment of teachers to their homes," said Teo.
And that is just what IT consultant Adeline Song needs. She has been on leave for most of the past month after her older son, who was enrolled at Pat's Schoolhouse (No.9 Halifax Road), contracted HFMD.
Her younger son, a 7-month old baby, is in Pat's Schoolhouse at No. 3 Halifax Road. So when that centre was ordered to shut, Song was at a loss as to how to separate the children at home.
"I need to inform my boss about what happened and see how I can either work from home or (get help from) my sister's maid," said Song.
Unlike the mandatory order for Pat's Schoolhouse to close, the NTUC Childcare Centre in Sengkang has been given a choice to shut. This is because, in more than 18 days, only six HFMD cases - which included a teacher - were detected.
The first case was detected on March 31 and the last case, which concerned the teacher, was reported on April 17. The five affected children have all recovered and are back in school.
"We will continue to monitor over the next 2 days if there are new cases. If there are new cases, we will consider voluntary closure. In fact, we have been working with the parents and informed them that we will have to close the centre in order to break the cycle of transmission," said Adeline Tan, General Manager of NTUC Childcare.
The centre has also stepped up measures to sanitise play areas and toys.
Since childcare centres come under the MCYS, officers from the ministry have been making more frequent spot checks on the centres to ensure that they comply with the standard operating procedures. Of the 744 childcare centres in Singapore, almost 300 have been checked in the last two months.
The Health Ministry has also tightened its policy on HFMD in light of the spike in number of cases in the past few weeks.
Before the move, childcare centres that report 13 cases in 15 days will be assessed by the Health Ministry to see if they have to close. Now, they will be ordered to shut once they hit the trigger level.
So far, three pre-schools and five childcare centres have already been ordered to shut. - CNA /ls
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