Abstract Objective To describe the characteristics of healthcare workers (HCWs) infected with COVID‐19 and to examine their sources of exposure. Methods A descriptive cross‐sectional study using data extracted from the centralized disease notification system comprising individuals confirmed with COVID‐19 in Singapore between 23 January and 17 April 2020. Occupation of HCWs was categorized into six categories. Their job nature was classified into “frontline” or “back‐end” based on the frequency of direct patient contact, and source of exposure was classified as family/household, social interaction or workplace. Chi‐square and median tests were used to identify differences between categorical groups and sample medians, respectively. Results A total of 88 (1.7%) HCWs were identified from 5,050 cases. Their median age was 35 years. Chinese and Indians constituted 42.0% and 31.8%, respectively, and 43.2% were foreigners. The majority (63.6%) was serving at frontlines handling patient‐facing duties, 15.9% were doctors, 11.4% were nurses and 44.3% were ancillary staff. About 81.8% acquired the infection locally, of which 40.3% did not have a clearly identifiable source of exposure. Exposure from the family/household was most common (27.8%), followed by workplace (16.7%) and social interaction (15.3%). All HCWs were discharged well with no mortality; three (3.4%) were ever admitted to intensive care unit and required increased care. Conclusion Healthcare workers accounted for a small proportion of COVID‐19 cases in Singapore with favourable outcomes. The possibility of transmission resulting from family/household exposure and social interactions highlights the need to maintain strict vigilance and precautionary measures at all times beyond the workplace.
【저자키워드】 COVID‐19, healthcare worker, Occupation, characteristic, exposure, 【초록키워드】 intensive care, Infection, Transmission, COVID‐19, outcomes, Characteristics, HCWs, Patient, Singapore, group, disease, Care, Frequency, Contact, Nurse, HCW, social interaction, median age, individual, medians, Chinese, categories, measure, handling, objective, highlight, Result, resulting, identify, proportion, required, accounted, median, were used, majority, maintain, discharged, 【제목키워드】 Singapore,