20,000 foreign workers in quarantine in Singapore

Two foreign worker dormitories in Singapore that have seen a “significant” climb in new COVID-19 infections have been gazetted as isolation areas to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.

This will see all 19,800 foreign workers housed at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan dormitory being quarantined in their rooms for the next 14 days, a ministerial task force to tackle COVID-19 announced on Sunday (Apr 5). Both dorms account for a total of 90 COVID-19 cases so far, with the larger cluster in S11 Dormitory.

Further safe-distancing measures will also be rolled out at all other foreign worker dormitories in Singapore.

Explaining the move, Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said: “The key objective of all these measures is really to ensure the health and well-being of everyone. Not just Singapore citizens, but also foreign workers who are here, helping our economy, and their employers.

“We want to give foreign workers the assurance that these measures are taken in their interests, and their well-being,” she said at a news conference.

The mood at the two isolated dormitories is “stable” and workers generally understand the need for these precautionary measures, said Ministry of Manpower’s (MOM) deputy secretary of workplaces Jason Chen at the same news conference.

Free meals and goodie bags with masks, thermometers, hand sanitisers and snacks will be given to the workers to “lift their spirits”, he said.



Dhaka/Mukul