SINGAPORE — A Covid-19 cluster at ComfortDelGro’s driving school at Ubi is not related to the one involving several KTV lounges, but is linked to residents at Block 639 Rowell Road in the Jalan Besar area.

Associate Professor Kenneth Mak, director of medical services at the Ministry of Health (MOH), said this in response to a question during a press conference by the multi-ministry Covid-19 task force on Friday (July 16).

He said that two residents from Rowell Road had taken driving lessons at the Ubi school and had later tested positive for Covid-19.

Since then, staff members at the driving centre, including one canteen worker and a driving instructor have also tested positive.

On Thursday, the ministry reported that 12 cases from two households were detected at a public housing block on the Rowell Road and that it was mandatory for residents there to be swabbed.

On the same day, MOH announced that there were six cases in the ComfortDelGro cluster and the driving centre was ordered to close for two weeks for disinfection to be carried out.

However, Assoc Prof Mak said that he does not exclude the possibility that transmission might have already occurred at the driving centre.

That was why MOH decided to close the centre for disinfection and to disrupt any potential additional transmission out of an abundance of caution, he added.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said on Friday that while the ministry no longer reports the details of each positive case, those who have been in close contact with any confirmed cases will still be notified.

“Today, when we do contact tracing, the rings that we draw are huge, much bigger than in the past. And that’s because it’s enabled by SafeEntry and TraceTogether. So when we detect a case… using those data, we are able to identify close contacts and they will be informed through SMS (short message service),” he said.