20,000 foreign workers at two dorms to serve 14-day quarantine order

Singapore

CLOSE to 20,000 foreign workers are required to serve a 14-day quarantine order and those working in the essential services sectors will be housed separately, according to the multi-ministry task force at a press conference on Sunday.

This comes on the back of the growing number of Covid-19 infections at the Westlite Toh Guan dormitory and the S11 dormitory in Punggol.

Of the 120 new cases of Covid-19 infection reported on Sunday, 22 were from the S11 dormitory while 10 were from Westlite Toh Guan. This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases to at least 62 at S11 dormitory and 28 at Westlite Toh Guan, as at Sunday evening.

Currently, there are 13,000 workers in S11 dormitory while Westlite houses 6,800.

The two dormitories have been gazetted as "isolation areas", and foreign workers living there will have to stay in their existing rooms for the next 14 days, said Manpower Minister Josephine Teo at the press conference.

"Given the rising number of confirmed cases, this is necessary to avoid the risk of further transmissions from any potentially infected workers to others in the dormitories, as well as into the community," according to a joint press statement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM)

Having said that, the Government will work with employers to ensure that quarantined workers continue to be paid, said Ms Teo.

The workers' period of absence will be treated as paid hospitalisation leave as part of the workers' statutory leave eligibility. Employers are also eligible to claim for the S$100 daily quarantine allowance.

All three meals and essentials such as masks, thermometers, and hand sanitisers will be provided for all foreign workers under quarantine.

In addition, arrangements will be made to facilitate remittances on site and MOH has deployed on-site medical support for workers residing at both dormitories.

Meanwhile, across other dormitories in Singapore, the "relatively small" number of foreign workers in the essential services sectors will be moved out and housed separately, according to Ms Teo.

"We are actively converting more spaces and putting these essential services workers into these spaces that are suitable for this purpose," she added.

In addition, further safe distancing measures across all dormitories will be implemented. This includes reducing intermingling of residents across floors and blocks.

"We will further thin out the number of people in the dorms, and this is to facilitate the enhanced safe distancing measures that we want to implement," said Ms Teo.

This will be progressively implemented across all large dormitories.

Furthermore, workers who are unwell, even if they are not tested positive for Covid-19, will be relocated and housed in isolated sick bays to minimise the risk for others.

Other than the quarantine order, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong also highlighted the circut breaker that will kick in on Tuesday. As such, all foreign workers will have to stay within their dormitories.

"We will make sure that within the dormitory, enhanced precautions are taken to reduce their social interactions, so that there is as little chance as possible for any infected case to cause more infection within any dormitory," said Mr Wong who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force.

Kong Chee Min, chief executive officer of Centurion Corp, which owns Westlite Toh Guan dormitory, told The Business Times that the government's moves were "necessary measures for the benefit of the communities".

"As the situation is evolving rapidly, there will be challenges to overcome. However, we are working closely with the various agencies to implement, enforce and educate employers and residents," said Mr Kong.

He added that the "collective effort between Westlite, employers and residents must be stepped up" to contain the spread of the virus.

Separately, responding to a query at the press conference, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that the Singapore Expo is "one possible site for community care facility" for patients who are "more or less recovered but may still be infectious".

This is to ensure that there is sufficient capacity in hospitals for those that require acute care, added Mr Gan, who also co-chairs the multi-ministry taskforce. The Expo will be the second such facility here after D'Resort NTUC in Pasir Ris.

With a record 120 Covid-19 cases on Sunday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a Facebook post that the government continues to see a rise in locally transmitted cases.

Of the cases on Sunday, four were imported and 116 local.

The local cases include 39 Singapore citizens or permanent residents and 76 long-term work pass holders.

"It is sobering news, but we had expected this possibility. It was one reason we decided to do the circuit breaker from Tuesday," said PM Lee in his post, adding: "But for the circuit breaker to be effective, everyone has to cooperate and comply with the restrictions."