SINGAPORE, June 7  — Four students and one non-teaching staff have been confirmed to have Covid-19, part of the community infections which the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced today.

They are from five different schools — Anglican High School, CHIJ Katong Convent, CHIJ St Theresa’s Convent, Geylang Methodist Secondary School and Hwa Chong Institution — and are not a cluster, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said at a virtual press briefing on Sunday.

The cases were identified as the government have stepped up testing efforts to identify Covid-19 cases earlier, MOE said.

“As part of this effort, since June 2, we extended surveillance testing for Covid-19 for all school staff and students above the age of 12 who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) at first presentation to a doctor, instead of only for those with prolonged symptoms.”

The student from Hwa Chong Institution was last in school on April 7, before the start of the circuit breaker. Of the other four cases, three were last in school on June 3, while one was last in school on June 2.

All five cases displayed mild symptoms, with the onset of symptoms being June 3 for three cases, and June 2 and May 31 for the remaining two cases.

“While positive, the tests for all five cases revealed low viral loads,” MOE said.

“A repeat test using new samples showed that all five cases were negative. The evidence suggests that they were likely infected during the end of the circuit breaker period, and not after school re-opening.”

The affected schools have implemented precautionary measures to ensure the safety of students and staff, and minimise the risk of transmission. The five students and staff were screened on entry with no fever or visible flu-like symptoms.

The schools have also been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, following confirmation of the Covid-19 cases, MOE said.

In all, 29 staff and 100 students who were in contact with the confirmed cases in school have each been issued with a 14-day Leave of Absence (LOA) by MOE or Home Quarantine Order (HQO) by MOH.

Those who are on HQO will also be swabbed for Covid-19 twice – once before the start of HQO, and once at the end of HQO.

“The arrangements for all schools, including the five affected schools, will remain unchanged. This means that for this coming week starting June 8, for example, Primary 1, 2, 3 and 6 students, plus Secondary 3, 4 and 5 students will attend classes in school, while the remaining levels will be on Home-Based Learning, based on the earlier announced weekly rotation schedule,” MOE said.

Some of the students on LOA have registered for the Mother Tongue Language (MTL) examinations on June 18 can still take the examination.

“The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board will apply special consideration during grading for these students. They can also choose to take the year-end MTL examinations instead,” MOE said.

“Our schools have implemented a set of comprehensive safe management measures to bring students back in a careful and safe manner. Nevertheless, it is extremely important that each of us exercises personal responsibility.

“We would like to remind all parents, staff and students that if a student or any family member is unwell, the student should not go to school. This is crucial to keeping schools going.” — TODAY