Singapore Sees First Case of School-Based Covid-19 Transmission

by BLOOMBERG

Singapore reported its first case of school-based Covid-19 transmission as an outbreak in the city-state showed little signs of abating.

A student at a local school contracted the virus after his classmate tested positive on Wednesday, according to a statement by the Ministry of Education. Close contacts of both pupils have been placed under quarantine.

Previous cases this month involving school children included clusters that originated at private learning centers. Students from 30 schools have been infected in the past four weeks, the Straits Times reported Friday. The government this week suspended most school classes and shifted to home-based learning in part amid concern virus mutations have made children more vulnerable.

A resurgence in infections has forced the Southeast Asian nation back into lockdown-like conditions it last imposed a year ago in a bid to slow transmissions. The government has also stepped up testing across the nation.

Repeated waves of Covid-19 “clearly show that no country is safe in a pandemic until everyone else is safe,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at the G20 Global Health Summit on Friday. “Beyond individual efforts, close international and multilateral cooperation is also essential.”

Out of the 30 new community cases found in Singapore Friday, eight were currently untraceable, the government said. Twenty-two cases were linked to earlier infections. Foreign worker dormitories had no reports of infections, while 10 imported cases were already put in isolation after arrival in Singapore.