About 100 New Covid-19 Cases In Dorms, Detected Through Regular Testing

About 100 New Covid-19 Cases From Migrant Workers, 7,000 Quarantined

Over 100,000 migrant workers have been tested at least once, authorities shared.

This comes as part of the routine testing that migrant workers have to undergo as they return to work.

Through this method, around 100 Covid-19 cases were found and the blocks they stayed in were quarantined at designated quarantine blocks, they told Channel NewsAsia (CNA).

Earlier this month, all dormitories had been cleared of Covid-19, so the cases that appeared after that are all new.

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They also reported previously that 800 workers were quarantined after a case was found.

Workers in same block immediately quarantined

About 7,000 workers have been quarantined due to the new cases.

However, here’s a stat that the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Ministry of Health (MOH) provided to CNA — less than 2% of new quarantined cases became infected with Covid-19.

It’s mostly due to the protocol at the dorms — they now have centralised quarantine facilities and more beds available.

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All quarantined workers are also tested during this period.

This will minimise the risk of there being undetected cases going to work and possibly infecting others.

In fact, more than 60% of cases are closed, so about 30-40% of cases are still ongoing. This works out to around 30-40 cases.

Situation monitored closely

Authorities have previously shared how they’re monitoring the situation in the dorms, to ensure that another outbreak doesn’t occur.

Besides the aggressive testing, they’re also monitoring wastewater at the dorms. The numbers of people reporting sick are also being monitored.

This is alongside the quarantine they do for close contacts as well as for the workers staying in the same block, when new cases appear.

To minimise cross-contact, workers are grouped according to their industries in the dorms.

Safety first, but not at cost of economy

It may sound slightly concerning that there are new cases emerging among migrant workers.

However, the difficulty of ensuring that no workers will ever contract Covid-19 is higher than containing the ones who do get the virus.

Singapore can’t afford to go back to another ‘Circuit Breaker’ even if more cases appear in the community. Many more jobs will be lost if that happens.

This coupled with the mental health care that workers are getting in the dorms means that most workers will hopefully be able to do their jobs in as safe an environment as possible

Featured image adapted from Facebook and Facebook.