MOH investigating 13 Covid-19 infections among people who served stay-home notices at Mandarin Orchard hotel

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Dec 19) that it is investigating 13 cases of coronavirus infection among individuals who had served stay-home notice at Mandarin Orchard Singapore hotel, which will stop accepting new guests with immediate effect.

In a press statement, MOH advised guests who have stayed at the hotel between Nov 11 and Dec 19 to monitor their health closely for 14 days from their last date of stay.

“They should see a doctor promptly if they develop symptoms of acute respiratory infection (such as cough, sore throat and runny nose), as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history,” it said.

It added that persons on stay-home notice are housed at a specific tower and dedicated floors of the hotel, segregated from all other guests, with no interaction among them.

“However, as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all guests in the hotel, the hotel will check out all its occupants. Persons serving stay-home notice will be transported via dedicated vehicles to an alternative stay-home notice dedicated facility.

"Deep cleaning and disinfection will be carried out by the hotel, in consultation with MOH and the National Environment Agency.”

The hotel has made arrangements to check out existing guests progressively. Restaurant and event spaces within the hotel will also be closed.

MOH said that as part of routine laboratory surveillance, the National Public Health Laboratory conducts whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis on all Covid-19 cases.

It takes about four weeks to culture the virus and complete the genome sequencing.

Thirteen imported cases, who were confirmed between Nov 2 and 11 to have Covid-19, were observed to have high genetic similarity despite the cases having arrived from different countries, including Bahrain, Canada, Indonesia, Myanmar, Netherlands, the Philippines, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“This suggests that these cases were likely infected from a similar source," MOH said.

"Further investigations by MOH found that these 13 cases had served their stay-home notice at Mandarin Orchard Singapore between Oct 22 and Nov 11. Genome sequencing and analysis are continuing for cases beyond Nov 11.”

The ministry said that epidemiological investigations were immediately initiated to determine if there is a potential link between these 13 cases and if transmission could have occurred locally, and not from their country of origin.

“From MOH’s preliminary investigations, we cannot exclude that transmissions could have occurred at Mandarin Orchard Singapore.”

The ministry has started special testing operations to test around 500 employees of the hotel for Covid-19. These include the staff members serving those on stay-home notice as well as those who serve other guests in other parts of the hotel.

“We will also test all who are currently serving stay-home notice at Mandarin Orchard Singapore for Covid-19 to determine their status, instead of waiting till their stay-home notice exit swab.”

MOH said that hotels used as stay-home notice dedicated facilities must have in place strict protocols to segregate persons on stay-home notice from all other guests.

These include placing persons on stay-home notice in segregated blocks, wings or floors, and ensuring their route of movement is clearly demarcated from other guests.

Persons on stay-home notice are also not allowed to leave their rooms during their stay, and rooms are thoroughly disinfected and sanitised upon completion of the notice period, according to strict infection control measures.

“They will also not be allowed access to common facilities in the hotels. The Singapore Tourism Board and Singapore Police Force conduct regular checks on these hotels to ensure that safe management measures are complied with, and that security measures are in place,” MOH said.

“The Government takes a serious view of any breach in protocols and will investigate and take actions should there be non-compliance.”

In December 2018, Mandarin Orchard Singapore came under the authorities' scrutiny when a large number of people reported sick after attending events there. Its Grand Ballroom and banquet kitchen were suspended from operations for 55 days. In total, 333 people reported gastroenteritis symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea, and 14 people were hospitalised.

The authorities later found that there was strong evidence of severe norovirus contamination in the hotel’s ballroom, caused by poor environmental and personal hygiene practices.