On 5 Apr 2020, Singapore started isolating foreign workers’ dormitories. And as each day passes, you can hear of more dormitories being isolated.
On 12 Apr 2020, it was reported that the Ministry of Health (MOH) has declared two more dormitories as isolation areas.
The first is Acacia Lodge located at Bukit Batok St 23. 530, 532, 534, 536, 538 and 540 are the premises affected.
The second is Cochrane Lodge 1 located at 51 Admiralty Road West. Isolated premises are blocks A, B, C, D, E and F.
With the latest two gazetted dormitories, the number of dormitories placed on isolation has reached 7. Which, if you think about it, averages out at 1 dormitory isolated per day.
Based on the list provided by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), Singapore only has 43 foreign worker dormitories operating in Singapore right now.
If my maths is correct, that’s like 16% of foreign worker dormitories in Singapore being isolated now.
And More Will Probably Follow
When the authorities first declared foreign workers’ dormitories as isolated areas, they emphasised that this is “not an issue of targeting a particular group, they are not of higher risk.”
Instead, they observed a huge spike of Covid-19 cases linked to dormitories and decided they want to separate them from the rest of the community in Singapore.
Here’s a snapshot of the daily Covid-19 cases report for the past few days at a single glance:
5 Apr 2020: 120 Covid-19 cases; 76 of them are long-term pass holders, with “significant numbers” related to the S11 Dormitory in Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan dormitory near Jurong East
6 Apr 2020: 66 Covid-19 cases; out of 65 local cases, 24 of them were linked to clusters at foreign worker dormitories
7 Apr 2020: 106 Covid-19 cases; 45 are linked to clusters at foreign worker dormitories
8 Apr 2020: 142 cases with many of them linked to clusters at foreign worker dormitories
9 Apr 2020: 287 cases with a majority of them linked to foreign workers dormitories; at least 160 cases are linked to S11 @ Punggol dormitory
11 Apr 2020: 191 Covid-19 cases found with 119 of them unlinked; 3 new clusters found at dormitories
It was also found that there is a link between Mustafa Centre and the various construction sites and dormitories around Singapore.
So chances are, we might be looking at more dormitories being gazetted in the days to come.
Ministry of Manpower (MOM) and Dormitory Operators Working Closely Together
S11 @ Punggol dormitory was one of the first two dormitories to be isolated on 5 Apr.
And the residents suffered terribly for it.
Rubbish was left to pile up, toilets were clogged and food arrived late. Residents within the isolated premises were supposed to stay in their own rooms throughout the period but they were driven out by the stench of urine and cockroach infestation.
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) released a statement after the living conditions of these foreign workers went viral online.
They said that isolating foreign worker dormitories was an “enormous undertaking” and they are working around the clock to improve things further.
On 10 Apr 2020, MOM also said that they’ve improved the living conditions of the migrant workers at S11 @ Punggol and Westlite Toh Guan.
They’ve increased the frequency of cleaning and disinfection at the isolated premises, as well as refusal collection.
How About Healthy Workers in Essential Services?
When they say they want the place isolated from the rest of the community, they mean it.
The Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong announced that workers who are healthy and working in essential services will be located elsewhere to stay at for this period.
They have identified military camps, Changi Exhibition Centre, empty HDB flats and offshore floating lodgings as possible accommodations.
More than 5,000 workers have already moved out, he claims.
If you’re one of those workers who’ve nothing to do except TikTok-ing, then you can download the Goody Feed app to read news about COVID-19 written in a light-hearted and easy-to-understand style (yet still informative), because if you depend on Facebook, you’d just be reading all the grimy news.
If you’re just another fellow, also download lah since you also have nothing to do now.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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