Today, after an employee was confirmed to be infected with the Wuhan novel coronavirus (Covid-19), 300 employees of DBS Bank were evacuated from their office at Marina Bay Financial Centre and were told to work from home for the time being.
A DBS spokesman revealed that the infected employee was tested on Tuesday and the bank was informed of the confirmation on Wednesday morning.
Its employees who are on a leave of absence would receive basic grocery packs while all staff employees would have access to a medical helpline, webinars as well as virtual doctors.
As a precautionary measure, contact tracing is currently being conducted to identify those who were in contact with the affected employee are informed.
At the same time, the office premise including commonly used areas like lift lobbies and toilets, are also being cleaned thoroughly as a precaution.
“The health and well-being of our staff are a top priority for us, and we will lend them every support to get through these uncertain times,” said a DBS spokesman.
Just last Sunday, another employee from Marina Bay Financial Centre (MBFC) Tower 1 has been confirmed by the building management to be infected with 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV).
As of Tuesday, according to reports by the Ministry of Health, the total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore stands at 47. However, it remains unclear if the DBS employee is a new case or part of the 47 already announced.
Since Friday, Singapore has raised its disease outbreak response level to orange one step below red.
At this stage, the outbreak is deemed to have moderate to high public health impact, nevertheless, the situation is still under control.