VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

The entrance gate of Changi Prison. (File photo: Singapore Prison Service) - 

About 5,000 inmates, staff and partners at Changi Prison will be tested for COVID-19 over the next few days after a cook working there was confirmed to have the infection.

All inmates' face-to-face visits and tele-visits will also be replaced by phone calls with effect from May 17 until further notice, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) said on Saturday (May 15).

The man, known as Case 63160, was reported as an unlinked community case by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday. He is fully vaccinated.

The 39-year-old last reported to work on Wednesday. He felt unwell after work, developing a fever and runny nose, and sought medical treatment at a general practitioner clinic where he received a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for COVID-19. His test result came back positive the next day.

SPS said it immediately ceased kitchen operations at Institution A5 and started contact tracing among staff and inmates upon confirmation of his infection.

All close contacts of the man have been isolated or placed in quarantine pending issuance of a quarantine order, said the service.

Affected inmates will serve their quarantine orders in prison, isolated from the rest of the inmate population. Staff, vendors and volunteers will serve theirs at MOH's designated quarantine facility//CNA