All 304 residents & visitors at Pasir Ris Block 559 test negative for Covid-19

Precautionary testing took place after four Covid-19 cases, living in different households, were found to be living in the block.

Tanya Ong | May 25, 2021, 07:13 PM

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As of May 25, all 304 residents and visitors at Block 559 Pasir Ris St 51 have tested negative for Covid-19, the Ministry of Health said in response to media queries.

The testing of the entire block comes after four Covid-19 cases were found to be living there. The cases were living in two different households.

Member of Parliament (MP) Desmond Tan, MP of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, said that testing is a "precautionary measure".

The swab test was conducted at the Regional Screening Centre (RSC) at former Coral Primary School from 9am to 4pm on May 23 and 34.

The town council has also conducted a thorough cleaning and disinfection at the common areas of Blk 559 and the surrounding blocks.

Hougang block

This is the second instance where swab tests have been conducted for an entire HDB block in Singapore.

The first instance involved residents of Block 506 Hougang Avenue 8, after a few Covid-19 cases were found to reside in that block.

405 individuals were tested from the Hougang block, with 403 found negative and two positive.

One of the positive cases has been classified as Case 63609 in the May 23 night report by MOH. She is a 60-year-old female Singaporean who is a homemaker. The patient, who is asymptomatic, was tested on May 21.

She has received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on March 29, and the second dose on April 19.

A total of 11 cases, from at least four different households, have been detected to be residing in this block.

Precautionary testing in HDB blocks

MOH said that they carry out precautionary testing of residents in HDB blocks when epidemiology investigations have assessed that there is a possibility of on-going transmission.

There is no one single trigger, and risk assessment is based on a number of factors, including the total number of cases within the block, the potential risk of transmission by these individuals, and likely modes of transmission.

top photo via Desmond Tan/FB, Google Streetview