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Toh Guan Dormitory in Singapore on April 19.
Photographer: Ore Huiying / Getty Images
Photographer: Ore Huiying / Getty Images
Singapore has found three new clumps of viruses in dormitories of previously declared disease-free migrant workers, rekindling concerns about a source of infections that has challenged the city-state’s strategy to contain Covid-19.
The Ministry of Health announced 49 new cases Wednesday, of which 43 were people residing in the dormitories. Of the bedroom cases, 14 were contacts from previous cases and were already in quarantine, with 29 detected through surveillance testing, he said.
Changi Lodge II at 80 Tanah Merah Coast Road was linked to six cases, North Coast Lodge in Admiralty was linked to seven cases, and two new patients from Toh Guan Dormitory at 19A Toh Guan Road East were linked to five previous cases. according to the ministry. These new groups are in addition to other groups that have been identified in the bedrooms, he said in a statement.
Dormitories housing the low-wage foreign workers who support Singapore’s construction and service sectors have made up the vast majority of cases in the country. An explosion of infections caused Singapore to shift to a more restrictive approach to the virus, imposing a shutdown in April that closed restaurants and offices and prompted a rethinking of its testing strategy.
The resurgence of clusters in dormitories, where workers live in tight spaces, reflects the difficulties Singapore and other nations have experienced in eradicating the virus, which is highly contagious and can manifest itself with few or no symptoms.
The fight continues
Singapore bedroom infections have remained in double digits since August 11.
Source: Singapore Ministry of Health
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech Wednesday that the country would have acted more aggressively and earlier in migrant workers’ dormitories given what he now knows about the asymptomatic and infectious nature of the disease. He said that while authorities took the precautions they believed appropriate, larger groups broke out in the bedrooms, “threatening to overwhelm us.”
Read more: Lee from Singapore identifies COVID-19 False steps, urge vigilance
Declared clear
Persistent infections in the premises occur even after a concerted effort by authorities for months to eliminate the virus through aggressive testing and quarantine. In On August 19, the Labor Ministry said that all workers living in dormitories have recovered or been tested for the virus.
The recurrence of infections in the bedrooms. means thousands of workers have had to re-receive notice to stay at home, while some work sites have had to stop their projects to disinfect areas and review safe management measures. As part of these measures, employers must ensure that workers in dormitories, as well as those in the construction industries, are routinely tested every 14 days, but implementing this has been challenging. challenge.
“Having people in closed, indoor, crowded, and possibly unsanitary environments will always pose a risk for outbreaks,” said Raina MacIntyre, professor of global biosafety at the University of New South Wales. “It is not only the accumulation of respiratory aerosols in closed environments that represents a risk, but also the shared bathrooms.”
He said health officials need to improve surveillance and testing at sites, and provide more space, better ventilation and fewer people per toilet.
Among the new groups discovered, Toh Guan had been declared Covid-19 free on August 8 by the Ministry of Health. CNA reported, noting that it had more than 1,300 cases prior to that date. The CNA said Changi Lodge II had been declared cleared in July after having more than 500 cases, and North Coast Lodge had more than 650 cases before it was declared cleared last month.
The Health Ministry said in its statement Wednesday that in addition to the polymerase chain reaction test, it also conducted serological tests to determine whether some of these cases are current or past infections. The results of the serological test, which identifies antibodies in blood samples, have yielded 23 positive cases so far, indicating probable past infections, he said.
Singapore reported 48 new virus cases on Thursday, comprising two community cases and five imported cases. This brings the total confirmed cases in the country to about 57,000, although more than 55,000 people have recovered.
– With help from Kevin Varley and Jeff Sutherland
(More detailed updates for Thursday’s virus numbers and tests in paragraphs 12 and 13.)
