Singapore — Only a day after a new Covid-19 cluster was reported in the largest migrant workers’ dormitory in Singapore, another new Singapore Covid cluster was announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH), this also in a dormitory.
On Sunday (Aug 23), channelnewsasia.com reported that about 4,800 workers living in the Sungei Tengah Lodge in 500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road had been placed under a Stay-Home Notice after two new Covid-19 cases linked to 55 previous cases were found at the dormitory, which had been declared as “fully cleared” of the virus by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on July 21.
This is Singapore’s biggest migrant workers’ dormitory, with 16,000 residents.
On Monday (Aug 24), a new Singapore Covid cluster was reported in the straitstimes.com, this time at Homestay Lodge at 39 Kaki Bukit Avenue 3, where one newly confirmed Covid-19 infection was linked to four older cases.
Out of the total of 87 new cases reported in Singapore on August 23, 73 new cases were linked to migrant workers who live in dormitories, among which, two are linked to the cluster at Sungei Tengah Lodge.
The Sungei Tengah Lodge dormitory had one of the largest infection clusters in Singapore with more than 2,200 cases.
A joint statement by the MOM, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) on Sunday night said that the Stay-Home Notice had been issued as a precautionary measure even as the health of the residents of the dormitory remains under observation. The residents will be undergoing Covid-19 tests within the next few days.
According to the MOM: “We expect to find among these workers, some who have evidence of an old infection and are no longer infectious. Such workers will be released from Stay-Home Notice and can resume work.”
As for workers confirmed to have Covid-19, they will go to hospitals or community care facilities for treatment or isolation to prevent further spread of the disease. Those who test negative will be transferred to centralised facilities for the duration of the viral incubation period.
And for the workers living at Sungei Tengah Lodge who have recently recovered or are not close contacts of the confirmed cases, they will be allowed to keep working and do not need to be under isolation. Routine regular testing, however, will still be conducted among the country’s foreign workers.
The vast majority, or 95 per cent, of Singapore’s confirmed Covid-19 cases, now numbering more than 56,000, have been the country’s foreign workers, particularly those who live in dorms. -/TISG
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