Minister: Testing & Screening of Migrant Workers Might Last Till September 2020

Amongst the people hit the hardest by the COVID-19 pandemic in Singapore, migrant workers living in dormitories definitely have to be up there.

Imagine having to go to a foreign country to work in intensive labour jobs while living in dormitories and conditions less favourable than what most Singaporeans are used to.

And then, to top it all off, amidst a global pandemic, your dormitories become the country’s biggest cluster, consisting of tens of thousands of cases.

As many Singaporeans should have been noticing, the number of confirmed daily cases remain in the hundreds as they are mainly comprised of dormitory labour workers. Just yesterday (4 June), they still made the majority of the 517 cases.

Screenings May Last Till August or September

Due to the large number of migrant workers, their testing and screening for the COVID-19 infection will have to take place over a long period of time.

And this ‘long period of time’ may take longer than you’d think.

Health Minister Gam Kim Yong said on Thursday (4 June) that the screenings may take up to August or September to complete, as they have to be carried out “systematically and carefully”.

However, it’s not all bad news.

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40,000 Workers Have Been Cleared of Infection

Around 40,000 workers have been cured and/or cleared of the infection so far, according to Minister of Manpower Josephine Teo.

12,000 workers had been moved out of the dormitories to live in short-term accommodations while 8,000 had been tested negative or have recovered.

The remaining 20,000 had also recovered and been rehoused at temporary sites.

Once the workers have been cleared through the processes, they will be able to return to work, ensuring a safe and smooth journey into reopening our economy.

And resuming their normal lives.

#MigrantWorkersMatter

In these times of crisis, we must remember to show understanding and consideration to one another.

If there’s anything that the current #BlackLivesMatter campaign in the United States is teaching us, it’s that racism is still a very prominent issue.

Possibly to prevent such similar clusters in the future or simply to improve their living conditions, Minister Lawrence Wong had announced that more dormitories would be built.

However, many Singaporean Netizens were less than pleased and made several racist, insulting, and ignorant comments on the matter.

Some Singaporeans then started to point out the racism present in our own country when it came to the migrant workers. You can read up more on the matter here.

Of course, I certainly hope that the ‘silent majority’ rule applies here and that the majority of Singaporeans disagree with these comments.

Migrant workers are an integral part of our society and economy; and most importantly, they are also human. Let us show them our deepest support and hope that our nation returns to its glory as a whole.