How Authorities Are Stepping in to Control Dormitory Clusters; Some Are Even Housed in Army Camps

By now, you should know that the clusters in foreign worker dormitories are kind of exploding.

Today, a staggering 287 new cases were announced and a majority of them were from dormitories.

According to Minister Lawrence Wong, the infections might have occurred a while ago. With just a few infections then, he said, “That’s where the virus had spread amongst them, and then when they went back to their respective dorms, they transmitted it back to their fellow workers in these dormitories. Many had very mild symptoms, so they continued to work.

“That’s why there was a delay in picking them up. So it’s very likely that the virus spread has been going around for some time in the dormitories, and we are now seeing all the indicators of it.”

Also, some of them could have been infected in Mustafa Centre, whereby they then infected their co-workers and eventually others in the same dormitories.

With this explosion in infections, the authorities are now ramping up their efforts to control the cluster.

Correction: clusters.

A new task force created on Tuesday would now be supervised by Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean to tackle this latest problem.

So, what are they doing?

Essential & Healthy Workers to Stay in Army Camps and Empty HDB Blocks

Allowing essential and healthy workers to stay in dormitories is too risky, so they would be housed in army camps and vacant HDB blocks such as those at Tanjong Pagar and Jurong.

As of now, over 5,000 of them have already moved to these temporary accommodations.

Workers Tested “Aggressively”

Workers in dormitories are also tested “aggressively”

This is done so that the healthy and the infected can be separated, which would eventually lead to a more manageable situation.

Authorities Stepping in to Help Manage Dormitories

The current model of operations of the dormitories would have to change in order to contain the virus.

Manpower Minister Josephine Teo said that the authorities would step in to help in the operations, such as providing meals for the workers, maintaining a better cleanliness and reducing the number of people in the dormitories.

She said, “In the past, it was always the dorm operators that took care of these things. I think we have to step in and help the dorm operators because it is an enormous task to be able to implement these changes in a short time.

“So that we can effectively enhance the dorm management, we want to be able to stabilise new procedures, so that we can then replicate them and sustain these measures.”

To achieve that, 387 officers have been deployed to work with the dormitory operators, and they comprise people from the SPF, SAF and MOM. They’ll work in groups of nine to work with every dormitory.

Take Care of Them

Now, remember this: the foreign workers are innocent.

It’s just pure bad luck that one is infected and their living conditions led to this spike in cases.

Mr Wong therefore said, “We have a responsibility for these foreign workers, they have come all the way here at considerable expense to make a living in Singapore.

“So we will do our part, and we will do our very best to take care of them, and ensure their safety, and their wellbeing, despite our best efforts at containing the situation.”

Well, at least now we know the empty beds meant for our in-camp training are put to good use.