An employee from Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 1 has been confirmed to be infected with 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) as informed by the building manager on Sunday (9 February).
As TOC read in the circular dated 9 Feb, the infected employee had a short visit to the tenant’s premises on 31 Jan before being sent home due to feeling unwell. Subsequenly, the employee was diagnosed with 2019-nCoV on Saturday (8 Feb).
Following the confirmation of the infection, a thorough disinfection has been carried out in the tenant premises and all common areas of the affected building in MBFC.
MBFC also noted that their cleaning contractor conducted sanitation work based on the guidelines by Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Environment Agency (NEA).
In the wake of DORSCON level raised to Orange, the building operations team has ramped up precautions by initiating temperature screening, restricting access of high risk individuals to the building, deploying hand sanitiser, increasing cleaning frequency within common areas and purging of air from the buildings.
Another confirmed case at Singapore financial hub
Previously, it was reported that there was a confirmed infected case at Clifford Centre. It is an employee of United Industrial Corporation Limited (UIC).
An advisory from Clifford Centre noted that the last day the infected patient was on the premises was 23 January.
As of Friday (7 Feb), no other employee of UIC has displayed any related symptoms and the contact tracing for the one confirmed case is ongoing.
Stepped-up precautionary measures
In light of the virus outbreak, the financial centre of Singapore remains on high alert by implementing precautionary measures to minimise virus transmission.
On Monday morning (10 Feb), long queues were seen outside Suntec City and Raffles Place as temperature screening were carried out.
All employees and visitors were required to go through the temperature check before entering the premises.
Singapore United Overseas Bank (UOB) also stays vigilant after several banking outlets have been closed down in China and Hong Kong following the virus outbreak.
As stated in UOB’s statement, proactive and precautionary measures will be taken such as temperature screening for all people who visit the buildings, entry restrictions for those with a temperature of 38° and above, as well as increase of cleaning and sanitisation frequency at common areas, branches and ATMs.
Separately, Standard Chartered bank also released a statement amid the coronavirus situation in Singapore stating that the health and safety of clients and employees remain a priority as they have heightened precautions according to MOH guidelines.
“We will continue to monitor the situation very closely and respond as appropriate to minimise banking inconvenience,” said Standard Chartered.
Update on 2019-nCoV cases
As of Monday (10 Feb), MOH has confirmed two more cases of the Wuhan novel coronavirus, brings total of infected cases to 45 in Singapore.
The fatalities toll from coronavirus epidemic passed 1,000 on Tuesday (11 Feb) with more than 42,200 confirmed cases across mainland China.
