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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg |
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NOROVIRUS GASTROENTERITIS -
MINISTRY OF HEALTH ADVISES INSTITUTIONS TO BE VIGILANT WITH
HYGIENE MEASURES |
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An Excerpt |
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Recent Outbreaks in Schools |
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In the last two weeks, Ang Mo Kio Secondary
School and Stamford Primary School had each reported cases of more than
100 students and staff falling ill with symptoms such as vomiting and
diarrhoea. |
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MOH has investigated into the Ang Mo Kio
Secondary School outbreak which occurred on 25-28 Sep and established
the cause as norovirus gastroenteritis. Investigations into the cause of
outbreak at Stamford Primary School are still in progress although
norovirus has also been identified. |
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As at Friday, 6 Oct, two other schools [ACS(I)
and Maris Stella (Primary)] have reported 20-30 cases of students and
staff falling ill with similar symptoms. These cases are also being
investigated to determine their cause. |
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As a precautionary measure to pre-empt
further outbreaks, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has instructed
schools to take the following actions starting from this weekend: |
- Cleaning of all schools over the
weekend and intensifying the cleaning regime of school premises in the
following weeks until the situation stabilizes. Particular attention
will be paid to the cleaning of canteens and toilets.
- Strengthening canteen hygiene - school
staff such as the Administration Manager and the Operations Manager
will conduct daily and regular checks on food handling by canteen
vendors.
- Visually screening students, staff,
vendors and visitors for their well-being, in particular to look out
for symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhoea. If any student, staff,
vendor or visitor are unwell, they will be isolated and advised to
seek medical attention. Parents of students who are unwell will be
asked to take their children to the doctor.
- Reminding students to heed MOH¨s
advice on good hygiene to minimize coming into contact with the
norovirus.
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Examinations |
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MOE has guidelines in place for
schools to make special arrangements to help our students who are
unwell, while sitting for national or school-based examinations. |
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In grading the affected pupils'
examination papers, the Singapore Examinations and Assessment
Board (SEAB) or schools will take into account the circumstances
under which these pupils took the examinations. |
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Thus, the MOE and SEAB would like to
assure parents that no student will be disadvantaged because of
such incidents. |
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MOE and schools will continue to look
into the welfare of the students and to monitor the situation
closely. |
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More..... (Subsequent News: So far, only two
schools have had outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis. They
are the Ang Mo Kio Secondary School and Stamford Primary School.
Two additional schools Maris Stella and ACS (Independent) had
reports of diarrhoeal illness.) |
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Source:
www.moe.gov.sg Press Release 9
Oct 2006 |
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Recent outbreaks of norovirus gastroenteritis in two
schools |
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Notice |
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FrontPage Edition: Wed 11 October 2006
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