ICA officer shares experience of attending to suspected Covid-19 cases at Woodlands Checkpoint

One of the many front line staff putting themselves on the line.

Sumita Thiagarajan | March 18, 2020, 12:42 PM

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has put out a video of an frontline Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer, who shares his experience of personally attending to suspected Covid-19 cases at Woodlands Checkpoint.

Felt 'afraid and grateful' during the experience

Uploaded on Mar. 15, the video features primary screening officer, Khoo Wei Ren.

The officer recounts an incident in which he had to handle some suspect cases at the checkpoint.

He was told by his supervisor that he needed to escort some travellers to the office.

When Khoo had to escort the suspected Covid-19 cases, he wore a surgical mask and gloves as a precautionary measure.

Screenshot via Ministry of Home Affairs/Facebook

After verifying the passports and identities of the travellers, Khoo handed them masks as they might be potentially infected, and transferred them to the nursing station at the checkpoint, where his supervisor took over.

Khoo disclosed in the video that he was "both afraid and grateful at the same time".

He then explained that he felt afraid as he was in close contact with suspected Covid-19 cases, but was grateful as there were additional precautionary measures put in place.

Work has become more tedious

Khoo disclosed that work has become more tedious during this period.

For example, he mentioned that ICA officers have to ask all travellers about their travel history and check their passports for the relevant endorsements from affected countries.

However, he said he felt that this experience has allowed him to better prepare for such situations in the future and that he hopes that Singapore can stay safe and healthy.

Top screenshots via Ministry of Home Affairs/Facebook