PCF Sparkletots Preschool at Bedok Reservoir-Punggol to close after teacher tests positive for Covid-19
The Bedok Reservoir-Punggol PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots Preschool will be closed from April 6 to April 15.
SINGAPORE — The Bedok Reservoir-Punggol PAP Community Foundation (PCF) Sparkletots Preschool has been ordered to close after a teacher tested positive for Covid-19.
The centre, which is located at Block 414, Hougang Avenue 10, will be closed from April 6 to April 15, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said in a statement on Monday (April 6).
The closure covers the 14-day incubation period of the virus, as the teacher was last in the centre on April 1 and had developed symptoms the next day. The ECDA said it had been informed that the teacher tested positive on April 5.
According to ECDA, the teacher is a "non-PCF para-educational professional who provides intervention programmes to a group of children".
The preschool centre will also undergo cleaning and disinfection, and contact tracing is ongoing, the ECDA added.
All affected staff and children will be placed on a leave of absence during the closure period, with the centre expected to resume "limited service provision" on April 16.
All preschools are set to be closed from Wednesday until May 4 as part of Singapore's "circuit breaker" initiative to curb further spread of the virus. Students, including those in primary and secondary schools as well as institutes of higher learning, will practise full home-based learning during this time. Preschools will only serve limited services to parents who work in essential services and are unable to make alternate care arrangements.
This latest closure comes more than a week after all PCF centres had been ordered to close from March 26 to 29, in order to disinfect their premises and review Covid-19 precautions with staff.
The centres had been ordered to close after a cluster of at least 26 Covid-19 cases was discovered at the PCF Sparkletots Preschool in Fengshan in March. The Fengshan centre was closed on March 24.
Separately, a MY World Preschool centre at Bukit Batok has also been closed temporarily after a child from the school was confirmed to have Covid-19. The child's three family members tested positive on April 1 and April 2, and the child was last in school on April 1 before being quarantined.
