If you thought the hard part was testing all the foreign workers in Singapore who stays in dormitories, think again.
Because just as MOH is working hard to clear the remaining foreign workers still in isolation, more are being added to the list.
Yes, sadly, as the government has been trying to tell Singaporeans for eons since Phase Two started, Covid-19 is hard to eliminate.
800 Migrant Workers Have Been Quarantined After a COVID-19 Case Was Found in a Cleared Dorm
Yesterday (12 Aug), it came out that new Covid-19 cases popped up in dormitories that were already cleared by the task force.
The authorities said new cases were detected in the already-cleared dormitories but they didn’t reveal the exact numbers.
Well, turns out that even 1 new Covid-19 case is troublesome enough to deal with.
In the evening of 12 Aug, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that 800 foreign workers went right back into isolation because a new Covid-19 case popped up within a cleared dormitory.
Again, MOH didn’t reveal the name of the affected dormitory.
The newly-quarantined workers will be tested at the end of their quarantine period.
With their addition, the number of foreign workers in isolation increased to 22,800. Previously, it was 22,500.
Measures To Ensure Safe Restarting Of Sectors
Previously, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) announced that Singapore is in a “deeper recession”.
I won’t bore you with the details, which you can find here, but here’s the TL;DR:
Everything fell even more than what MTI had initially expected, from the contraction of Singapore’s economy to the GDP, and it’s partially due to the fact that Singapore has “jam-braked” during the two-month circuit breaker period.
With that, you know that keeping foreign workers isolated in dormitories isn’t possible; not only are their mental well-being at stake, Singapore needs the construction, marine, and Oil & Gas sectors to start working again.
Which is why the authorities have announced a series of measures for them:
- Foreign workers working on-site and living in dormitories have to be swabbed every 14 days
- Workers have to report symptoms and temperatures twice daily through an app
- Those who just recovered from Covid-19 don’t have to be tested for 180 days
- Staggered pick-up and drop-off timing
- Minimise mixing between blocks
- Updating of workers’ residential addresses
- Dormitories at high risk of Covid-19 transmission will have wastewater tested regularly
- The number of foreign workers who reported sick will also be closely monitored and tracked
I guess, at the end of the day, what the task force said is true: Fighting Covid-19 isn’t about stamping it out completely; it’s about flattening the curve.
Singapore’s Current Status
On 12 Aug 2020, Singapore reported 42 new Covid-19 cases, the lowest in more than 4 months.
The single case in the community is a 58-year-old Singaporean who was a contact of a previously confirmed case and was already on quarantine.
There were also 11 imported cases.
- 2 Singaporeans
- 3 Work Pass Holders
- 1 Work Permit Holder
- 1 Special Pass Holder
- 4 Dependant’s Pass Holder
One of the two Singaporeans is an eight-year-old boy who returned to Singapore from India on 3 July. The other returned from Indonesia on 30 July.
The special pass holder is a Filipino seaman (read: sailor) who arrived in Singapore from India on a vessel on 8 Aug.
He reported symptoms and was tested for Covid-19 onboard; thereafter, he was brought to the hospital via the ambulance.
The four dependant’s pass holders came from India on 28 and 31 July.
The four work pass and work permit holders arrived in Singapore separately from the Philippines on 29 July and India on 31 July.
All imported cases were placed on Stay-Home-Notices (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore and were detected during this period.
With this, the total number of cases in Singapore is now at 55,385.
There are 92 Covid-19 patients in hospitals with no patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
The average number of cases and unlinked cases in the community remains stable at 2 and 1 respectively.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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