Staycations were cut short for those who checked into Mandarin Orchard last month for a short respite.
On 19 December, the hotel closed its shutters after news that 13 imported Covid-19 cases might have been infected while serving their Stay-Home Notice (SHN) at the hotel broke.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) began their investigations, with hotel guests being requested to check out of the hotel as a precautionary measure.
Fast forward to 2 weeks later, the MOH announced on 1 January 2021 that it has completed its investigations.
No Further Transmission at the Hotel
The conclusion?
No further transmission was found beyond the 13 imported cases. The other Covid-19 cases who had served SHN at Mandarin Orchard were determined to be unlinked to these 13 cases.
As for the hotel staff, all were tested negative for Covid-19 under the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. The serological tests of 11 staff were positive, indicating likely past infections.
These findings implies that there is no ongoing transmission at the hotel.
As the premises has been thoroughly disinfected, the MOH announced that Mandarin Orchard is allowed to resume operations from today, 2 January 2021, onwards.
The hotel’s restaurant and event spaces were also given the green light to welcome guests back again.
What Happened
13 people who had flown in from different countries were serving their SHN at Mandarin Orchard between 22 October to 11 November 2020.
The visitors came from countries such as Canada, Indonesia, Myanmar and Netherlands.
They were found to be infected with Covid-19 between 2 to 11 November.
As there was high genetic similarity among these 13 cases though they arrived from different countries, it was suggested that they might be infected from a similar source.
The MOH then began to conduct their investigations.
Precautionary Measures Taken by Hotel
The hotel stopped accepting new guests when the announcement was made.
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For those serving SHN at the hotel, the management provided dedicated vehicles to transport them to another SHN dedicated facility.
As for existing guests, they were requested to check out of the hotel by 9pm on 20 December.
All 571 hotel staff were tested, and guests who have stayed at Mandarin Orchard between 11 November and 19 December are advised to monitor their health closely for 14 days from their last date of stay.
For those serving SHN at the hotel at that point in time, 3 were tested positive on 20 December. They were then sent to the hospital to receive immediate medical attention.
These 3 cases have also tested serology positive, and they had recent travel history. This implied that they might likely be infected while overseas.
The following day on 21 December 2020, it was announced that the PCR tests for all hotel staff came back negative, indicating that there was no ongoing infection among hotel staff.
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Suspected Cases Linked to Mandarin Orchard
Two additional imported cases were said to be possibly linked to the previous 13 cases.
The two individuals had arrived from the Philippines and Qatar respectively. Both were serving part of their SHN at Mandarin Orchard, before being moved to another dedicated facility on 20 December.
They were swabbed on both 19 and 21 December with test results being negative.
However, when they were swabbed again on 24 December upon completion of their SHN, the results came back positive.
Featured Image: sirastock / Shutterstock.com
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