GEIS-新闻详情

Parents anxious over rise in Covid-19 cases among children but attendance normal at pre-schools, tuition centres

2021-09-23 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-新加坡原网页

SINGAPORE - With the recent increase in Covid-19 infections among children under 12 years old, Madam Siti Zurina Saidi is anxious about letting her six-year-old son attend kindergarten.

If the boy tests positive for the virus, her 76-year-old father and 68-year-old mother - who live with the family in a five-room flat in Choa Chu Kang - will also be at risk.

Madam Zurina, 41, a staff manager at pharmacy chain Guardian, on Thursday (Sept 23) told The Straits Times that her job requires her to interact with people daily.

Now, there is the added stress of making sure her child and elderly parents do not contract Covid-19, she said.

Madam Zurina, her husband and parents are all fully vaccinated, and her father got his booster shot a few days ago.

In recent weeks, parents of young children under 12 have been worried about the surge in Covid-19 cases among young children.

So far, none of the Covid-19 vaccines available in Singapore has been approved for use in children under 12.

The seven parents who ST spoke to said they are concerned about their children falling ill and spreading the virus to other family members.

The number of Covid-19 infections here has doubled twice since Aug 23 and could double three more times before falling and stabilising, the authorities have said.

In the past week, clusters have emerged at LearnJoy Education Centre, a tuition centre in Bedok North, and the My Little Campus pre-school in Yishun.

On Wednesday, 85 of the 1,453 local cases reported were children under 12.

Since Sept 15, 492 out of the 8,201 local cases, or about 5.9 per cent, have been children under 12, based on data gleaned from the Health Ministry's daily updates.

There are now 88 children in hospital infected with Covid-19 but no child has needed intensive care or oxygen supplementation.

On Sept 14, Senior Minister of State for Health Janil Puthucheary told Parliament that there had been 367 cases of Covid-19 among children below the age of 12, accounting for 0.6 per cent of all local infections at the time.

Parents said the situation has been complicated by the coming year-end examinations. The Ministry of Education (MOE) on Sept 18 said all primary schools will switch to full home-based learning for Primary 1 to 5 pupils from Monday (Sept 27) to Oct 6.

Madam Zurina said official guidelines for pupils are now not as clear as they had been in the past.