Spike in HFMD cases; MOH to name centres with prolonged transmission

SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) has said cases of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease (HFMD) have been rising over the past weeks.

Last week, some 900 cases were reported.

This brings the total number of cases since the start of the year to 18,000.

That's 67 per cent higher than the same period last year

The Nativity Church Kindergarten at Blk 98, Hougang Avenue 8 has been ordered to close for 10 days from Friday to break the chain of transmission.

Teachers were up till 9pm on Thursday to inform parents of some 500 children in its pre-nursey to kindergarten 2 classes about the temporary closure.

The closures affected childcare centres or kindergartens which have had more than 16 HFMD cases or an attack rate greater than 23 per cent, and a transmission period of more than 24 days.

And this is reflected on the website of the MOH.

The ministry is now naming childcare centres and kindergartens with prolonged transmission to keep parents in the loop and watch out for symptoms.

Two other centres are on the watch list.

One of them is Pat's Schoolhouse in Upper Jurong Road, which is puzzled that it's on the watchlist.

"I think what they have done is to lump the July and August numbers together, rather than count them as clear after every 10 days. I think our last case was August 3 but the doctor reported it on August 4. So (by right, tomorrow would have been our tenth day). Maybe that's why they put us on the watchlist," Pat's Schoolhouse director & founder Patricia Koh said.

-CNA/vm/wk

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Spike
• in
• HFMD
• cases;
• MOH
• to
• name
• centres
• with
• prolonged
• transmission