SINGAPORE - The mode of Covid-19 transmission is a subject of intense debate after a 53-year-old cleaner who works at a stay-home notice facility was identified as a possible source of infection that led to the latest community cluster at Westgate and Jem malls in Jurong East.
Infectious diseases expert Paul Tambyah said the cleaner - if infected at her workplace - was unlikely to have direct contact with the stay-home notice visitors, so the virus would have somehow carried itself through the air or via a contaminated surface to get to the cleaner.
There are three main modes of transmission: airborne transmission - where people get infected over long distances by inhaling very fine respiratory droplets carried by the air and aerosolised particles; transmission through contact with droplets; and the touching of contaminated surfaces.
There is little to suggest that the strains of the virus that are currently circulating are more likely to infect children, experts said, even as more than 40 students and pupils from some 30 schools have come down with Covid-19 in the past month.
In less than a month, the Covid-19 cluster at Changi Airport has swelled to more than 100 people, including airport workers whose jobs did not require them to interact with passengers, family members of front-line staff and visitors.
SINGAPORE - In less than a month, the Covid-19 cluster at Changi Airport has swelled to more than 100 people, including airport workers whose jobs did not require them to interact with passengers, family members of front-line staff and visitors. It is now the largest active cluster in Singapore, and accounts for four of the 30 new community cases reported.