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SINGAPORE: Foreign workers living in dormitories will now undergo a more targeted quarantine approach to prevent COVID-19 transmission, in a bid to minimize work disruption and to make measures more sustainable.
Workers can now be quarantined by tiers or sections rather than entire blocks, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a press release on Friday (September 25).
The ministry also said workers who have recovered and are within 150 days of their infection would not be quarantined.
The more specific approach follows a review by MOM and the Ministry of Health (MOH) of specially constructed dormitories, settling sites, factory-converted dormitories, and temporary construction accommodations.
MOM said the two ministries have also taken into account that many dormitories have implemented stricter safe living measures to limit mixing between residents.
“In dormitories that do not have intermingling between workers, where workers observe Safe Living Measures and where segregation measures that have been implemented by dormitory operators, workers can be quarantined by levels or sections rather than entire blocks.” said MOM.
“Those who have recovered and are within 150 days of their infection will not be quarantined. This is in light of the latest medical evidence that showed that these workers continue to have antibodies to protect against reinfection.”
Previously, when new cases of COVID-19 were detected, the following workers who lived in the same block were quarantined: those who were not previously infected, or those who had recovered and 120 days had passed since their infection.
READ: About 10% of construction sites inspected since June found ‘deficiencies’ in safe management measures: BCA
In the press release, MOM gave an example of this new targeted approach.
In the Westlite Woodlands dormitory, after detection of a new infection through listed routine tests, close contacts of the infected person living in the same block were quarantined. With the previous approach, this would have affected the 318 workers of the block.
With the new approach, only 68 workers were quarantined due to proper safe living measures in place to ensure proper segregation, so the remaining six levels were not affected.
Workers who were determined to be close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases were quarantined under a new approach at WestLite Woodlands Dormitory. (Photo: Ministry of Manpower)
To get the most out of the differentiated approach, dorm operators, workers and employers must do their part, MOM said.
These include maintaining and complying with safe living measures and ensuring that workers constantly undergo the listed routine tests.
NEW GROUPS EMERGED AFTER THE BEDROOMS WERE CLEANED OF COVID-19
All bedrooms in Singapore were declared COVID-19 free on August 18. Since then, however, more than 800 new cases of COVID-19 have been detected in the last month in bedrooms.
As of Thursday, a total of 21 bedrooms have new pools.
READ: Toh Guan dormitory residents will be tested for COVID-19 more frequently in a pilot to detect cases earlier
The first new group, at Sungei Tengah Lodge, was reported on August 22 and has grown to 216 new COVID-19 cases. Sungei Tengah Lodge is the largest purpose-built dormitory in Singapore, with more than 16,000 workers living there.
Before MOM declared it authorized on July 21, the group had more than 2,200 linked cases.
The next largest new group is at Avery Lodge Dormitory, which was identified on September 10. Since then, 128 new COVID-19 infections have been discovered there. The Health Ministry previously declared clear on August 10 and the cluster was closed.
There have been 118 cases in the new group in Westlite Toh Guan’s bedroom since he was identified about three weeks ago on September 3.
Westlite Toh Guan was one of the first dormitories to have a COVID-19 cluster prior to Singapore’s “breaker” period, but it was previously declared COVID-19 free on August 14.
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