Three more primary school students test positive for COVID-19

SINGAPORE: Three seven-year-old students from three primary schools - Yuhua, CHIJ (Katong) and Catholic High School - have tested positive for COVID-19, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Tuesday (May 18).

The sources of infection of all three cases were not from schools, added MOE.

A Yuhua Primary School student tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. He was well when he was last in school on May 14. 

He is a family member and household contact of two previous COVID-19 cases, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a separate press release.

The boy was placed in quarantine on May 15. He developed a fever, runny nose and cough on May 16 and was tested for COVID-19 the same day. His test returned positive the next day. 

All his close contacts in the school will be quarantined and will undergo swab tests, said MOE.

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The second case is a Catholic High School (Primary) student, who was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Monday.

He was last in school on May 12 and was well, MOE said. The student was placed in quarantine as he had attended classes run by an infected private tutor at Learning Point Tuition Centre in Parkway Centre.

The boy developed a cough on May 12 and was tested for COVID-19 when he reported his symptom, but his test result came back negative for COVID-19 infection.

The student then developed a fever on May 15 and was again tested for COVID-19 the next day. His test result came back positive on May 17.

All his close contacts in the school have been quarantined and they will undergo swab tests, said MOE.

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The third case is a student from CHIJ (Katong) Primary who tested positive on Monday. 

She was last in school on May 11 and was well, but was subsequently placed in quarantine from May 14 as she had attended the same external student care centre - Seedlings World Student Care @ Frankel - as an earlier confirmed case from St Stephen’s School.

The St Stephen’s School student had attended classes run by the infected private tutor at Learning Point Tuition Centre in Parkway Centre.

She developed a fever on May 16 and reported her symptom, and was tested for COVID-19 on May 17. The test result came back positive the same day. She also developed a sore throat.

“As (the CHIJ student) has been isolated during the infectious period, there were no close contacts in her school that would need to be placed on quarantine order,” MOE said.

Serology test results for the three students are pending, MOH said.

Yuhua Primary School has started home-based learning, while Catholic High School (Primary) and CHIJ (Katong) Primary will start on Wednesday.

“Beyond existing safe management measures, the affected schools have implemented additional precautions to ensure the safety of students and staff, minimise the risk of transmission, and prevent the development of school-based clusters. This includes the thorough cleaning and disinfection of school premises,” MOE said.

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