SINGAPORE, May 23 — An 11-year-old pupil at Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), who tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday, is the first case of Covid-19 school-based transmission in Singapore, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) in a statement early yesterday morning.

Before this, all students in past cases had been infected outside schools.

The 11-year-old boy is a close contact of a 12-year-old boy from the same school who was confirmed to have the infection on May 19. The two boys are part of the same cluster as a 46-year-old Singaporean investment banker at DBS.

MOE said the boy was last in school on May 18 and was well but was subsequently placed on a quarantine order as his classmate had tested positive the next day.

He developed a fever on May 20 and took a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) swab test which came back positive the following day.

Close contacts of both confirmed cases have been placed on quarantine order and will have to take PCR swab tests, said MOE.

Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) has been on home-based learning, along with all other schools in Singapore, since May 19.

As an added precautionary measure, the school premises have been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, added MOE.

"This is our first case of school-based transmission and a clear reminder to all of us and our stakeholders, especially our parents, that we need to work together to keep our schools safe,” it said.

It urged parents to keep their children at home and inform the school immediately if they have household members who are suffering from acute respiratory illness, or have reason to believe they might have a Covid-19 infection. — TODAY