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Praised for its gold standard approach to tracking coronavirus cases, Singapore faces an increase in transmission linked to migrant workers’ dormitories, where thousands more infections are expected to emerge.
The Health Ministry reported 728 new cases on Thursday, the biggest increase in a single day, as medical teams rushed to assess and isolate workers living in large blocks of dormitories.
While Singapore has been praised for its quick and comprehensive approach to finding contracts, officials have been accused of overlooking the dormitories, where thousands of workers live indoors and 12-20 men could share a room. individual.
In March, the Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2) campaign group urged officials to make plans to protect workers, warning: “The risk of a new group among this group remains undeniable.” Authorities are resorting to moving men to multi-story parking garages, military camps and floating hotels in an attempt to reduce overcrowding.
Mohan Dutta, a professor at Massey University in New Zealand, who interviewed 45 migrant workers in Singapore since the outbreak began, said many feared an outbreak was inevitable due to conditions.
“Participants told me that even as of Monday they do not have access to adequate soap and cleaning supplies,” he said. While migrants were served food so that they did not use shared kitchens, the quality of the meals was poor and lacked nutrition. In some cases, 100 men shared five toilets and five showers.
Nine dormitories, the largest of which has 24,000 men, have been declared isolation units by officials, while all other buildings that house the 300,000 city-state workers have been effectively blocked. The restrictions, an attempt to reduce additional transmission, have left the bedrooms even busier than usual as only essential workers are allowed to leave.
A construction worker from Bangladesh told The Guardian that there were long lines to use shared toilets that often did not have enough water to run showers or toilets.
No one in her bedroom had tested positive yet, she said, but some people had temperatures of 38 ° C. “In my room and other rooms there are also many [with] symptoms some feel [they have] without energy, someone has body aches, ”he said. “We are scared.”
The government said it has increased cleaning services in the dorms, which are generally private, and that it was providing meals to workers and moving people to alternative accommodation.
Professor Dale Fisher, a senior infectious disease consultant at Singapore National University Hospital, said medical teams had moved from hospitals to quickly assess people at the site. “If we don’t stop him there, hospitals will be overwhelmed.”
Thousands more cases are likely to be discovered, Fisher said. “[The men] They are all in their 30s and 40s, which is good, but even so, when it comes to these massive numbers, quite a few sick people in their 30s and 40s will get sick.
“The risk [relating to migrant worker dormitories] It is completely different and the preparation and anticipation were not there.
“The message to other places is that, if you are overcrowded, it is very vulnerable,” Fisher said, pointing to slum areas in countries like India. “When people say that the closure of India has been extended, I can’t think of anything other than closing.” It’s like the only defense you have. “
The second wave of cases in Singapore has brought the total number of infections to 4,427, including 10 deaths. Fisher said he was not aware of any deaths among the migrant worker groups, but that they were generally not recorded until a later date.
The migrant workers from Singapore, who are mostly from India and Bangladesh, are an essential part of the workforce. Many work long hours on construction sites in the country, building their skyscrapers and shopping malls, so that they can send money to family members at home.
It is not uncommon for workers, who have temporary contracts and depend on their employers for work permits, to be paid less than promised. Many earn around S $ 1,200 per month, according to Dutta. Workers pay large sums of agency fees to work in Singapore and are often reluctant to complain for fear of being deported.
The workers’ dormitories are on the outskirts of the city-state, which Dutta says “makes them invisible in many ways to the Singapore landscape.”
