Many businesses not lowering guard despite flu alert downgrade

Channel NewsAsia - Saturday, May 9

SINGAPORE: Even as Singapore prepares to downgrade its flu alert status to Yellow and government workplaces and schools give their thermometers a rest, some companies are not easing up on Orange alert measures just yet.

At the Marina Mandarin and the Millennium & Copthorne group of hotels, for example, staff will continue to have their temperatures taken daily.

"To drive the importance of staying vigilant, we will continue with our measures until the alert goes back to Green," said Mr Yim Choong Hing, M&C’s chief operating officer for Asia.

Front desk staff will still have to sanitise their hands after handshakes and after they return from other workstations. Housekeeping staff will disinfect contact points such as lift buttons and door handles regularly, especially during morning and evening peak hours.

"We’re not scaling down because what we are doing now is pretty necessary. We just want to be careful," said Ms Rae Tang, marketing communications manager of Marina Mandarin.

Over at air—conditioning and switchgear specialists Natural Cool Holdings, twice—daily temperature checks of the company’s 900 staff will continue for at least another week.

The rooms set aside for suspected cases will remain, and the appointed flu manager will continue to keep records of those with fever and update his flu committee members.

Staff returning from H1N1—affected countries are still expected to self—quarantine for seven days, said chief executive Steven Chen.

These measures will remain until the alert status is lowered to Green, he said.

OCBC Bank, however, has calibrated its H1N1 alert measures in accordance with the Ministry of Health’s guidelines.

Temperature checks were discontinued on Thursday for employees and visitors entering the OCBC Building. Employees returning from H1N1—affected countries also need not self—quarantine, said Mr Sigfried Ching, head of business continuity management.

The fears of an H1N1 outbreak have translated into brisk sales of N95 masks at Home—Fix D.I.Y.’s 20 outlets, said its managing director Loh Chiong Kee.

Still, he welcomes the planned downgrading of the flu alert status. "At such a high alert, people are more tense. I hope they will go out more now," he said.

As of Friday, there hasn’t been any case of H1N1 detected in Singapore, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).

No additional cases were sent for investigation, it said. Meanwhile, all seven Singaporeans quarantined in Hong Kong have been released.

— TODAY/so

From Yahoo! News; see the source article here.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Email hoax on earthquake, tsunami in Asia on July 22 (mycompuquest.blogspot.com)